Christmas Thoughts (Patreon)

• Christmas was never a huge thing in my family for obvious reasons, but I’m sad for the people missing out on their traditions this year. My brother’s wife LOVES Christmas, to the point of wearing flashing Christmas tree earrings and singing carols to her children all year round and I can see how it would be a vector for immense joy. And any excuse to sing together makes me happy.
• Carols are more or less the only remaining functional folk music. In the most classic sense of the term, rather than the modern genre definition. Mostly oral tradition, passed from person to person, regional variations…
• Use this chance to unsubscribe from all the companies sending you Christmas messages. They don’t really hope you have a great day, they’re just reminding you they exist. Treat yourself to an unsubscription frenzy.
• This time of year highlights for me the irony of the War On Christmas debate about Americans wishing each other Happy Holidays when their whole culture is pathologically opposed to taking more than like three days off.
• I had an alone Christmas day with my infant due to various family members having brushes with omicron (all negative so far but playing it safe), and am practicing gratitude at the exceptional privilege of being in a place where so far the progress of an apocalyptic mass global death event is mostly marked in my day to day life being increasingly boring. What an incredibly fortunate position to be in.

Lots of love to you all

Xx

A