It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas


The annual bleg

Remember when, things were different then? Lo, these many years ago, when there was a season I looked forward to all year. Alas, decades of deregulation and tax cuts threw our economy into the shitter and left the national savings account badly overdrawn. I was a victim, no recession has ever hit me like this. In no time I went from comfortable to trying to survive on a 12 dollar an hour job with no viable path to a living wage. It basically turned Christmas into another bill I couldn’t afford. Fortunately, I have some really kind readers who changed that when they pitched a few bucks into this week’s annual bleg.

I am technically poor (Wow, it’s weird to actually write that), at least for now, and readers here aren’t exactly collecting dancing horses. But enough has already come that I was able to get afford a groupon for a great deal on a tablet! Now, obviously it’s not an iPad, or even a super expensive device with every feature, but I like the model and needed one bad. I’ll post more details when it arrives.

The thing is, I underestimated how it would hit me emotionally … Maybe it’s the consumer stimulus vs reward drilled into me over the years by a commercial culture, like a hamster nosing that button for fix, or more likely the effect of any luxury on someone who has gone without for a bit. But just that one act of shopping, playing with various devices, and then ordering something nice for myself after so long made me feel the holiday spirit more than I have in three years. All morning I’ve felt excited, like I used to around Christmas — can’t wait to play with it! I’m even scheming how to stretch my modest year-end bonus and surprise some people in my life with something thoughtful. That mental vacation is all because of you guys, and I just wanted you to know how much better you made me feel.

 

Comments

  1. Johnny Vector says

    Yay! Merry Christmas, man!

    Oh shit, that’s gonna get me kicked out of the People’s Front for the Elimination of Christmas, isn’t it?

  2. Tigger_the_Wing says

    *Aims a kick*

    Oops, sorry wrong group. We’re the Christmas Elimination People’s Front.

    Merry, merry Christmas and every other holiday ever, Stephen!

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