Every year, come December, I do the same thing: I greet or say goodbye to people with a cheerful "Merry Christmas." And every year I find the same sad reality: less and less people correspond. (Two people total gave any sort of answer this year.)
The thing is, they don't say anything at all! They either completely ignore what I said, or are so taken aback by the the unexpected greeting, they can't even utter a grunt in response. Clearly, no one else has wished them any form of happy holidays before me, seeming to support what Bill Watterson wrote 20 or so years ago:
"This season gets less and less merry each year."
I don't think I've had a truly merry Christmas since 2004. I was determined to make this year different in every way I could. I whistled carols in the halls. I said Merry Christmas to everyone from the bus driver to the dean. I didn't have time to put up the holiday decorations (Sis took care of that) but I did make sure to spend as much time with my family as I could said as soon as I got out of class.
But my personal effort saw no change in the people around me. People are just not feeling the holiday. My dad, who reads more newspapers than any of us can count, says the economic crisis is extending across the globe. There have also been a lot of big news items this year, though few of them have been indisputably good (consider, for instance, the deaths that were celebrated… they're still deaths). And I guess the fact that we finally burned out our last string of Christmas lights this year (therefore finally learning how expensive Christmas decorations have become) didn't help matters.
But I still think we had a good one, even if it could have been better. (I could, for instance, not have drawn what you see at the top and have gone with Sis to a park or something.) I hope you and yours will be able to receive it when I send you a big very merry Christmas.
The title to this post is a reference to the Sandra and Woo 2008 Christmas strip
Merry Christmas, Frank! If a little belated.
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