New year will bring same old issues in Washington, so focus on our community instead
Many of you will have taken down your Christmas lights by now. I keep mine up for all 12 days of Christmas. Most people now presume the 12 days of Christmas end on Dec. 25. Actually, that is the first day of Christmas and the last day is Jan. 5.
Jan. 6 is Epiphany and the beginning of the Mardi Gras season. By tradition, lights go off before sunset on Jan. 5. That is the tradition my mother insisted upon in south Louisiana and then even in Dubai when we lived there. Much to my wife’s annoyance, it is my tradition now, too.
While many transition to saying “Happy new year” at the start of January, I will still wish people a Merry Christmas. It is far more common to keep it up in Britain, but there they say “Happy Christmas.” At some point in the 17th century, word choices began evolving. In Britain, most often the word merry became associated with hedonism and drunkenness. King Charles II was referred to as the Merry Monarch not because he was happy, but because he was rarely sober.
British priests slowly began to use “Happy Christmas,” but their American colonists never picked up on the word evolution, so we kept merry before Christmas, though we abandoned its 12 days as we moved away from Anglicanism and Catholicism. This Presbyterian intends to keep it going.
Likewise, I intend to avoid all new year’s resolutions” I see no reason to set a resolution to coincide the a completed orbit around the sun. They seem to be wastes of time designed to build up guilt if we do not keep them and anxiety over keeping them. There is no reason to pick a calendar date to begin doing something. Just do it, or don’t. Whatever you do, do not rush out to get the discounted gym membership with every other holiday over-eater. Wait a month or two on that one. You will go to the gym, it will be crowded, and you will not go back. Neither will the rest of those people. Give it a month and wait for the new year’s resolution crowds to abandon their resolutions.
Unfortunately, none of us will escape politics this year. I have intentionally tried to spend the month of December writing about faith and Christmas. But the presidential campaign season beckons. Kelly Loeffler will become our new Georgia senator in a few days. Joe Biden seems set to be the Democrats’ presidential nominee. President Donald Trump will still be president of the United States through the end of this year. Impeachment will go nowhere despite the screams and cries of the President’s critics.
The political yelling is only going to get worse. But I have decided it is far more important talk instead of yell. I suspect most Americans will dig in their heels, refuse to consider anyone else’s arguments, and totally ignore their own backyards in favor of more yelling about Washington. But anyone reading this right now has a far better chance of improving Middle Georgia than of improving Washington, DC. Breaking bread with those in your community can change things in a way venting on social media cannot.
To that end, as I do every year, I encourage you to sign up for my recipe list. Every week I send out new recipes to encourage you to cook with friends and family. Text the word RECIPE to 33777 to sign up. Happy New Year, but also still, Merry Christmas.
Erick Erickson hosts “The Erick Erickson Show,” on News-Talk 940 WMAC.