I admit it. Christmas is not entirely magical to me. I'm slowly coming into the spirit, but life is not a magical Hallmark Christmas for me. And I feel some guilt because it is not. But then, those people probably did not lose their parents and grandparents over the course of several years in November, December (one of them five days before Christmas), and January. Christmas is the midst of a season of remembered losses for me. I miss everything about Christmas at my grandmother's house, from the homemade fruitcake and gravy to the Charlie Brown Christmas trees we used to have. Some of those people have also probably never felt the anxiety of a semester ending and the rush to get final grades in on time while planning Christmas entertainment for the entire college family at the same time. I used to pressure myself to listen to Christmas music nonstop, starting on the way home from visiting family for Thanksgiving. This year I have not played a Christmas song willingly yet.
"Well, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" It's a phrase I worried about using several months ago out of fear it would be construed as racist. I even went so far as to confide my worry to a trusted confidant, a wordsmith, and probably the smartest person I know. He told me he understood my concern, and we explored the etymology of the phrase. We concluded it was not racist, but with everyone as touchy as they are today, it was probably best to lay off using the phrase. I forgot about searching for an alternative that would be politically correct. Until yesterday. A social media posting linked to a BBC article, entitled, "Trump challenges Biden to drug test before debate." Essentially, Donald Trump has asked that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden submit to a drug test before their scheduled debates because Biden had shown a marked improvement in his cognitive state recently. Trump accused Biden of being incoherent during a debate. I f