Cheers to health, happiness, and peace.

For a few weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the world feels like a better place, at least in my little corner of it. Shit still happens during this stretch of the year, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let that stuff take me out of the holiday spirit. This December kicked off with one of those “why did this happen to us” moments, and (of course) the timing couldn’t have been better—a few weeks before Christmas. The good news is that this situation will only cost money; no one is hurt beyond repair in any way, shape, or form, but the memory of this Grinch-level event will remain for many Decembers to come.

Despite the rocky start to the month, things settled into place primarily because my wife and I were adamant that we wouldn’t be brought down now, especially since we are responsible for making sure our two kids have a magical holiday season. That’s important to both of us, but I hold this close to my heart because I remember several holidays as a kid when my mom seemed stressed out. My dad left her around that time of year, so it was a painful reminder of that wound. As we got older, time healed it, but the fleeting moments of childhood had vanished with the ghost of Christmas past. She did her best to make Christmas magical for my younger bro and me, but there was an undercurrent of sorrow for several years, back in the day.

Not on my watch, though. Our oldest doesn’t believe in Santa anymore. She’s 10, and we spoiled it for her earlier this year. Was it a rotten move on our part? No. Santa is the “Christmas Spirit” personified. That isn’t going to change with the revelation that he doesn’t actually physically exist to deliver toys to boys and girls on his “Nice” list. What it did was give our daughter a better appreciation for her parents and what we do for her and her younger brother. Plus, she didn’t have to hear about Santa being fake from some schoolyard joker and possibly have her world crushed while being mocked for believing. She got a gentle letdown with the perfect spin put on the landing, so even though she was disappointed at first that her dad was the one actually eating the cookies left out on Christmas Eve, she was happily satisfied with the idea that we can still celebrate the holiday with the same joy and love as we always have because we are the ones bringing the spirit into our home.

Wonder

Which leads me to the absolute magic that was Christmas in our house this year. It is one of my great joys in life to see my loved ones open gifts and be delighted by what they receive. This year was no different, but the kids and my wife seemed to enjoy it more this year, for whatever reason, and it was beautiful to watch. Our son is autistic, but each year the world opens up to him in different ways. This year, he was more involved in the celebration. He actually unwrapped his own gifts (with a little help). Most of us don’t think twice about this part of the process, but for my guy it was a big step. Not quite the stuff of Christmas miracles, but in the neighborhood adjacent.

We hosted some family this year because our regular Christmas hosts were dealing with COVID. Major bummer to not have all the family together as per usual, especially since we missed some of them at Thanksgiving, but we still had a great time, playing games, eating, and laughing. What more do you want on any day? This isn’t just for Christmas get-togethers; it is the glue that holds families and friendships together; it is food for the soul; it’s everything that matters most.

Another One

Here we go again. Another year done, and here comes another one. Thinking about going through another year can leave me feeling overwhelmed and a bit defeated, like “Damn. I have to do all this shit again???”

Yeah, yeah…there are plenty of opportunities to do new things. There is a lot of potential in a new year, and there are things to look forward to if you’re living a decent life and you don’t have to worry about getting bombed or starving to death, but does anyone else out there also hate the concept of starting over?

Globally, I have no clue what 2024 holds for us other than the Olympics in France. Cool. In the U.S., we get to look forward to another presidential election. It feels like January 6th, 2021, just happened, too. I expect things to get weird once again, but I don’t think it’ll be quite as weird as 2020. No one expected that shit, either. We can’t get another “once in one hundred years” virus so soon again after the last one. It’s just mathematically impossible. We’re good for another 96 years, give or take a couple. I don’t anticipate lockdowns and quarantines, but Trump vs. Biden, Part 2 will be wilder than the first go round.

Could it be that we here in the United States are being played by both sides so that we stay divided on social and political issues for some other reason? Could it be to distract us from looking economic disaster? From the ever-worsening climate conditions? From the Epstein client list? From some other diabolical machinations that the world’s power players have set in motion? Maybe. Perhaps. Too many inconsequential matters have taken over news stories and become the images that the rest of the world sees us eat up and spew back at each other.

In many ways we are fools being fooled, but the red pill means a reality too harsh, too committed to an ideal, untethered from a comfortable womb of consumerism and social media apps. I am as susceptible to these gratifying distractions as anyone else, and I am nothing more than another disembodied voice typing away in the comforts of a home office.

Pathetic. Contemplative. Grateful. Horny.

Favorites

A lot of folks have lists of books they want to read, shows and movies they want to watch, or albums they want to listen to. In most cases, folks have all those lists. I was able to binge some shows this year, catch a few new movies, listen to some new music, and read a few books this year. Most of my favoritet things from 2023 weren’t released in 2023, so they shouldn’t count. For example, I read How High We Go In The Dark by Sequioa Nagamatsu this year, and it was excellent, but it was published last year (or 2021). It’s not something from this year, but it stands out from this year because I read it this year.

I was slightly more current with TV shows. Barry ended on a downer, and I thought it was brilliant. That show was headed towards a dark end, and it delivered one. I appreciate that Alec Berg, Bill Hader, and the rest of the crew took it there, and I especially love how they took the failed actor turned acting coach, Gene Cousineau, and drove him off a cliff by the end of the series. From start to finish, Barry was top-notch.

The Bear showed up in 2023 for season two, and it was another strong showing, perhaps better than season one. I’m curious to see what’s in store for season three and also to see how much this story has left in the tank.

Reservation Dogs wrapped up its three-season run this year, and it ended up being one of the best things I watched all year. When it debuted, I thought the series would focus on the four Indigenous teens, which it did, but the show wasn’t just about their coming-of-age story. That was part of the connective fibers that wove a narrative through the generations of people that lived on that reservation in Oklahoma. It was a lovely story that was humorous with a touch of heart-ache.

I didn’t see a bunch of new movies this year, but I liked most of the flicks that I saw. This was a great year for animated movies. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was the best of the group, but I tip my cap to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and Leo.

As for the live-action movies, They Cloned Tyrone and Godzilla Minus One were my favorites. Barbie was well-made, but not my thing. I didn’t see Oppenheimer or Napoleon. I didn’t see a ton of new movies this year. I spent a lot of the free time I had to watch stuff watching TV series, like the three that I mentioned, and a new favorite, The Expanse. I know it ended back in 2021, but I just got around to watching it, and halfway through, it’s holding up.

Black Thought’s new album Glorious Game was my favorite album of 2023. The Griselda dudes, Conway the Machine and Westside Gunn dropped solid work, and I liked Killer Mike and Billy Woods new albums for the year, but I have underrated Black Thought for years, so I’m giving him his flowers now.

The major entertainment disappointments for 2023 all stink of rotten cheese. Disney bothced The Madalorian and Ahsoka. If it wasn’t for their animated series (especially the brilliant Star Wars: Visions), Star Wars would be absolutely shit. Right now, it’s just been mostly shit. I don’t have faith in what is being promised for 2024, but maybe I should just lower every expectation I have for anything with that brand.

Goals

How do you folks feel about New Year’s resolutions and goals? I’m all about them. I like having something to work for, even if it’s some trivial thing that I’ve set for myself. If you’re also about that life, may you fulfill your resolutions and achieve all that you hope to achieve in 2024. Who knows how many years we have left?

I want to publish more work and make more money in 2024, straight up. Those two things may not go hand-in-hand, yet, and I hope achieving one goal helps me get to the other, but I know that getting more work published is something I want to accomplish in the next two years.

I also want to be a nicer person, which won’t take much effort, and as much as I struggle to be kind to idiots and jerks, it would probably be better for me to let a lot of what I hate so much about their behavior go because it’s probably good for my health. Carrying anger around feels like a weight on my spirit, and that weight is especially heavy when I feel the least capable of bearing it. I guess that’s when I’m vulnerable to its effects.

Let us all strive to be nicer people in 2024 and in the years beyond that we have left to live.