Humbug Smiles

It can surprise you how quickly the working world can turn around attitudes and conceptions. And in no season is this alternative point of view more apparent than the holidays. A couple of years down the working road opens your eyes to the things you’d so easily miss as a kid.

You remember how cheerful Christmases were in your childhood and how they steadily lost spirit and enthusiasm as you grew older. People all too easily point their fingers at the declining economy, when in truth, it is ourselves who are to blame. Slowly, as we grow, our eyes slowly open to the amount of effort it takes on our own parts to make the holidays special. All the magic and mysticism disappears with age — the natural progression — and suddenly, Santa doesn’t cut it anymore.

Magic realism’s loosened grip and the anxiety of work all contribute to make very grumpy holiday goers. Add the horrendous traffic this nation’s known for and it can get pretty ugly a couple days before Christmas. The only thing you really look forward to in these few days a year is the rest that the holidays provide. Not that arguing family members make it any easier. Perhaps the most unhappy households are those whose members have all outgrown the spirit.

It always changes when there’s a kid around — someone who still believes. There’s something about the lies we tell the younguns’ that we all still like to believe. Perhaps it’s the fact the we remember the good old days when we too were told these very same fibs, and how, no matter how far out or irrational, we believed, irregardless. Funny how the very lies we propagate still have a certain hold on us. It’s only a matter of time before they too stop believing and turn into the cynical cranky young adults we’ve recently become. But for the mean time, it’s still fun to play along. Or maybe there’s more to these lies than we realize.