Rant #1,808: It's a Holiday

I welcome myself back to this blog after a few days off for the Christmas holiday.

Yes, Hanukkah happened at relatively the same time this year, but we got off because of Christmas, not because of Hanukkah.

My family did the requisite things during this period. We lit our candles early on December 24 for Hanukkah--which had its first night on Saturday evening--because we had a busy day ahead. We took out my father in law to lunch --he lives in the Veterans Home in Suffolk County right here on Long Island--and then we made our way over to my brother in law. He follows Christmas, so he had a whole house of people over, and we were among them.

On Sunday, December 25, we had a Hanukkah party at my sister's house. We also celebrated her birthday, which actually was yesterday, December 26, which is also Boxing Day, Bring Back Your Gifts and Get Something You Really Want Day, and the first day of Kwanzaa, all combined into one.

With everything happening on December 26, it's a miracle my mother actually was able to find time to give birth to my sister on that day way back in xxxx, but she managed.

And also yesterday, I actually had a visit from my daughter, who I don't see that often. She looked good, and we had a nice lunch together at that traditional Christmas eating place, Burger King.

Otherwise, with both my son and my wife working yesterday, I did nothing. I watched a movie I saw in the theater as a teenager, "The Big Bird Cage," which at the time I thought was pretty racy but now, more than 40 years later, it is somewhat tame compared to some of the other stuff I have seen since then.

But one tends to go out of their way for Pam Grier, circa early 1970s, so it was worth spending 90 minutes with her in one of her first films, no matter how bad the movie really was.

I also watched a classic episode of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In"--which is being shown in full hour shows on the Decades channel this month--which featured Ringo Starr, the return of Goldie Hawn--she left the show to do "Cactus Flower," returned to her original haunts on occasion, and the rest was history for the actress--and Wally Cox in the "Farkle Family" blackouts. The show was a real hoot, even all these years later.

The holiday period is not a happy one in my household this year. After a really interesting year, the last few weeks have been torture.

The job situation is not a good one, and I really don't know if a year from now I will be employed, whether at my current place of business or elsewhere.

I am trying to keep the holiday spirit, but I am fighting a losing battle with myself. I spent so much less money this year on gifts, simply because I didn't have the money to spend, that it really doesn't feel much like the holidays to me right now.

But I have to keep a stiff upper lip, if for nothing else than for my family, in particular my son.

This is Hanukkah to him, and I have to make sure that it is as good a Hanukkah as I can muster, even when my spirits are dim.

So that was the holiday for my family and I. Not a memorable few days, but any days away from what I call my workplace right now can't be all bad.

Let's hope holiday 2017 is better than this year's holidays were for me. Right now, I am not a happy camper, I can tell you that for sure.