Humbug!

[BoSoxGal]

Hard to feel holiday cheer this year - beyond what’s happening to the country, I lost a dear friend, a beloved cousin and the day after Thanksgiving, my eldest brother (and favorite sibling) to boot.

Bah. Humbug.

But this made me laugh, so I’m sharing it with youse. Hope you had some uplift with your peeps today.

Hoping 2026 brings us more reasons to smile.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Liked the cartoon!

Sorry about the rest but . . . Happy Everything to you!

[Sue U]

I always thought it was Abe, Max and Danny -- the Weissman bothers -- who brought Murr (Murray the Mohel) with them to do the bris.

Hope all your holidays were/are/will be joyous.

[Sue U]

A little caroling to send out the year:

God rest ye, Murray Gondelman
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Chinese restaurants
Are open Christmas day
To sate us all with soup and noodles
That's our peoples' way
Oh flavors of garlic and soy
Garlic and soy
Oh flavors of garlic and soy.

[datsunaholic]

I haven't been able to get into any semblance of holiday spirit since 2020.That was my grandmother's last Christmas before she passed in January 2021.

As a kid, it was such a huge build up. Grade school was all Christmas from the beginning of December. My dad untangled the lights, though by my teens I did the exterior lighting. I was in choir so caroling at the malls, Christmas mass was a huge production. My dad always volunteered at the Church Tree Lot, or the Football tree lot .Christmas pageant at school. All the Holiday specials.

Christmas was when the extended family - at least, all my Paternal Grandmother's progeny, gathered at her house. I missed one Christmas in 46 years, because I was in Boot camp (1992). Got lucky every other year and was in port and off duty when I was in the Navy.

My grandmother's brothers would come home from California some years. My unncle always came up from Vegas, as well as some of my dad's cousins. The house was packed, over 2 dozen people back in the 1980s. Those grand uncles all passed away, one by one. My grandfather died in 2004. Then my Sister moved to Florida, with her kids, in 2005 and would only come home every other year. Now with her kids being adults they don't, since they spend the Holidays with her husband's mom who lives in Florida.

Then my dad died in 2011. Still had a fair amount of people- Grandma, my dad's brother, his sister and her husband. Their son, his wife and his 4 sons. My other sister and her son. My mom, my brother, and me. A dozen.

We knew 2020 was her last Christmas, she knew. Middle of COVID. We had 17 people that year, adding my Florida sister and her family and my other sisters boyfriend.

My grandma hoped we would all get together again even in her absence. We did not. The house was sold, everyone went their separate ways

I used to decorate my house every year. I loved Christmas lights. Doubled my power bill. Now I work nights and can't get in the spirit. Haven't put up lights in 4 years. Had to work this Christmas anyway. Ate a cold cuts sandwich in my truck for Christmas dinner. We held Christmas at my mom's house on Saturday. 7 people. No tree, but we were together.

But it didn't feel like Christmas.