Winding down in the after glow of the holidays, and the big night with fireworks, and watching LOTR with my eldest daughter. I had a gummy, and some snacks and promptly went to bed before eleven thirty. I did not stay up to ring in the new year, and I am ok with that. Kids have felt ever so slightly off since throwing up in Ottawa, and I didn’t want to press the issue. Everybody seems right as rain today though – amen! Hallelujah!
Usually I would strike out immediately to take down the Christmas tree, and potentially some of the easier exterior lights. But I’m not feeling it today. I can wait for Sunday to take the tree down. Let us have one or two more nights to bask in its warm festive glow. There’s so much snow, bare tree bark, and greyness around I could enjoy the colours on our tree for a little while longer. I have the antique colour bulbs that remind me of my youth.
I see a certain colour way on a house a few blocks from here, and the first time I saw it, BAM! It was a visceral gut punch. I can’t seem to locate that colour strand in any stores around here, but if I could. Oh boy, I’d buy up a bunch of those for the tree, the house, the garage whatever… I don’t care. I could stare transfixed for a while in nostalgia with those colour bulbs. Probably best we don’t have them, bit of a distraction really.
We are officially in 2026. Winter has been present for some weeks now, even if the winter solstice was a mere ten days ago. I hope, and pray that we get some sort of lengthy reprieve from all this snow. No running from the cold at this point, but I could do with letting the snow subside just a little.
First task of the new year has been laundry. Washing, drying and sorting are on the agenda for today.
We moved some furniture for a family friend yesterday that went about as smoothly as one would hope, while still being a tremendous pain in the ass, if you know what I mean. The cold and snow didn’t make things any easier. But for how bad it could have gotten, we made out like bandits, in & out — woosh!
The tree disassembly will take about an hour or two. It’s a bit different going in reverse because you have to be so careful of tangles, and dropping ceramic ornaments. It takes time to put all the different stuff into their particular containers. Work I don’t mind doing. Now I did notice a part of one colour light strand had gone out completely, so I should buy a replacement for it, or make a note to do so next November before the tree goes up once more. That busted strand was only on its second year. Not sure why a four foot section has gone dead already. Planned obsolescence obviously. Now I need to go spend thirty dollars more to replace them. Capitalism, it’s kinda the worst…
Right about now we are all emerging from the Holiday “Fuck its” from Christmas, and finding extravagant visa bills waiting, with arms open wide, ready to pick through our pockets and take our too freely given cash. In the spirit of Christmas, I bring you the gift of Scrooge, a return to belt tightening, budgetary restraint, and rational logic that says “Don’t treat yourself!”. It’s an unpleasant switch from holiday giving, to the reality of a busted economy, world leaders waving dicks around, and billionaires squeezing us for every penny their greasy fingers can smear themselves on. Solar panels, personal power generation and self sufficiency are looking more and more attractive over time. Grow some fruit trees, and food stuffs of your own. Shop less. Buy quality where you can. Learn to fix things or make do with what you’ve got. Times ahead look to be tough. Get some grit. Dig in. Time to develop community out away from our phones, screens, social media. Disconnect to reconnect if that tells you anything meaningful. Hold strong.
Welcome to 2026.
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