Things Not Said, No Shoes, and Happy Holidays – Thoughts from December 24, 2024

For Christmas Eve, Patti and I went to our niece and nephew’s house. Patti’s sister, three of her sister’s sons, and an assortment of other people like me were there. Patti’s grandniece (a term I had to look up) was there, which I only mention because she was the adoptive parent of one of Scout’s six kittens. The focus was mainly on our niece and nephew’s new baby. My focus was making sure no drama took place. The only potential drama was Patti’s sister. She is the opposite of Patti and me politically. We are as liberal as it gets, and she is not that. The night continued without incident. My thoughts, however, took in all the uncomfortable silences and the things not said.

One issue was the removal of everyone’s shoes. This was the first house I’ve experienced having to remove my shoes to enter. We’ve been to their house several times, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. I’ve finally learned to make sure my socks don’t have any holes in them before I go over there. The only issue I have now is knowing when I’m done getting things from the car. I don’t want to remove my shoes and put them back on when I leave their house. If you grew up in a house where this was normal, you may not see what my issue is. Even when I’m walking around the house, I have either shoes or slippers on. I don’t walk around the house in just socks. Quite frankly, that can be dangerous in many parts of our house.

Another issue is dealing with the various age ranges. Patti and her sister are one generation, I’m another one, and the rest are all younger. The baby is a baby, so he doesn’t really belong to a generation yet. Technology is a great divider. I’m an old nerd. I can translate between the older and younger generations. If no one mentions political subjects, it can be a pleasant Christmas Eve. It is usually the older generations that have a hard time controlling what they say. I keep my thoughts to myself if I feel like disagreeing with others. I’m sure Patti would love it if I kept my thoughts from her much of the time.

The one subject that invariably comes up at Christmas time is religion. It’s hard to say that Christmas is anything but an ad for Christ and Christianity. People say, “Happy Holidays,” but that’s only giving in to those nasty Liberals like me. Conservatives want to save “Merry Christmas” because they don’t want to give up the hold they’ve had on this time of year for thousands of years. Besides Judaism and other religions, there are people like me who are none of the above. We’re used to growing up around various religions, but even non-believers know who controls this time of year. Santa Claus is only a cover for the real fictional story. Yes, I deliberately ended this paragraph to provoke believers.

I’ve spent enough years dealing with people who think everyone believes as they do to ignore much of the religious decorations and ignorance of other ways of thinking. Nativity scenes are the hardest for me to see. Anyone who would put out something like that in 2024 is out of touch with the modern world and reality. I would just like to be a voice for those of us who are non-believers. It seems like everyone is having a merry Christmas, but some of us are just glad to have a holiday to get with family and friends. Caring about each other is more important than caring about religious traditions.