Dispatches from Home: Christmas Day, December 25 2022.

For those who know me, you know that I keep a journal, which I started in 1966. I was fourteen. Reading back over the years is bittersweet – the mountain tops, the valleys; the gains, the losses; the loves, the unrequited loves; but most of all, it’s the memories of bygone days that jump off the page. Memories of those living, those gone to their eternal reward, and those who, like diaphanous butterflies, have fitted into my life and then flitted out again. With all that in mind, I present to you a 49-year-old entry from my college days.

“Christmas Day, December 25, 1973, Tuesday 9:06 P.M. Pokey, (This is the name I address my journal entries to in honor of my great, great aunt by the same name.) Today has been one of a typically southern nature. Cold, drizzling rain has followed us all day. Today has been one of the bleakest Christmas days I can remember. My Christmas spirit has been lacking this season. It all seems so strange this year. There has been little outside lighting of towns and homes. It is dark at night. Our own town (Gulfport) has Christmas decorations up but does not light them. Jackson, which was always so beautifully decorated at Christmas time, was dark and bleak. I guess that is the way it will be for some time, now due to Energy Crisis.

I can see advantages. Maybe this will bring America back to the true meaning of Christmas. Maybe this will show us that Christmas is not made up of blinking lights, tinsel upon a tree, and packages. Christmas is much more. It is a feeling more than anything else. A feeling of love and kindness. I can see a great tapestry in my mind’s eye. I see that this tapestry is made of corruption, sickness, and decadence. Here and there are small holes and tears in the fabric of the tapestry. It is through these holes that feelings of love and peace for all men shine. Maybe, if only the fabric continues to rot and decay, the cover will fall off America, and there will be “peace on earth and goodwill toward men” once again. Merry Christmas. Tig ” (My nickname for myself, a derivative of Tiger. )

The innocent ramblings of 22-year-old me seem prophetic in light of today’s world. Alas, the lack of light due to the Energy Crisis did not change our world very much. We have morphed further into a world of greed, Christmas commercialism, and a total lack of moral respect for our fellow Americans. However, this I know – hope springs eternal! Love is best when it’s from the heart and not just a four-letter word. And although kindness is in short supply in this kamikaze world in which we live, with hate, anger, despair, and subterfuge falling around us every day, there’s still hope for a better day! And that better day starts in your heart, a heart filled with love and kindness for those who love you and even those who don’t.

I also believe this with all my heart. There is a God in Heaven. A loving but jealous God who calls us to believe in Him and His son, Jesus Christ. Who projects us. Loves us. And wants everyone to believe that with all their hearts.

A big thank-you to those who wished me a Merry Christmas last night with good food, good times, good conversation, and a few to many gin and tonics. Here’s wishing my dear family and FB friends a Blessed Christmas Day! All my love, Lit’ ol’ Me.

(P.S. – In case you’re wondering, most likely, yes, I’ve written about you in my journals. And what I’ve said might soothe your heart or cause you to cry, laugh, or be thankful that upon my passing, my journals are to be destroyed to protect the innocent, as well the guilty.)