Merry Nonetheless

Boy, was I pissed off this morning. Actually, I was pissed off last night after reading this and other articles about the GOP rejecting a Big Three Bailout because it didn't include enough auto worker concessions. The CEOs of GM, Ford, and Chrysler, beggars in blue suits, fly to Washington on private jets to ask for an allowance, and the Senate wants the line worker to take a paycut? I'm sorry, Senator? I don't think I heard you. You see, it might be that American autoworkers for Nissan, Honda, and Toyota have a different arrangement. They also make fuel efficient cars that are extremely reliable. I haven't driven an American made engine in 14 years. And that's not the fault of some guy on the assembly line. Try the folks up in engineering, or marketing, or general accounting. They'd be who you need to talk to.

Anyway, I was already riled up when this morning, this little tidbit came across my screen. The Fed Reserve says it doesn't have to tell you or me who got $2 TRILLION of our tax dollars. Um, excuse me, YES, YOU DO.

As a reminder to readers, please do not forget that despite all that's been shoved down our throats, it doesn't have to be this way. We pay for the government. And every day, we are closer to, if not upon, taxation without representation.

At the end of the day, Mr. Bernanke works for us. You, and me, a petite middle-aged, single mother of two who just took a haircut herself and is hanging on by her fingernails along with most of the rest of America to see what Bernanke, Paulsen and their minions of geniuses do next. So far, most of us aren't impressed.

I recommend everyone take a minute to think about this. You know, maybe just make an adjustment. Add an exemption. Or, several. Just three months. Send a message to Horton on the other side. "We are here! We are here! And we have your revenue!"

Once I got to thinking about this after a conversation with my sister, I started to feel downright merry. I don't know what's holding us back. There are kids in this country with no food or healthcare, good workers with no jobs, and ordinary people all over getting closer to the edge that their less fortunate neighbors were shoved over months ago. We should be making some basic demands. If the GOP can say no, well, sure as hell so can I.

And it's with that thought that I skipped out and finished most of my holiday shopping, followed by the procurement of most of the ingredients I'll need to commence the holiday baking. Despite myself and the best efforts of The Powers That Be to put a bullet in my will to wassail, I nonetheless look forward to wrapping the little presents I am grateful to have bought today, hiding some of them, sending others away. Nothing fancy, just a few small and I hope meaningful reminders to stop once in a while to think of all that is possible, to find out all that we are capable of, whether it's through solving a puzzle or reading the inspirational words of a leader who changed the world.

Both can be you this Christmas and all the time.

Upon returning home with my festive bounty, and before I made myself a beautiful salad with pecans, figs, and blue cheese -- a gourmet treat I have been denying myself in the tradition of Bob Cratchet -- I gifted myself with Mary Chapin Carpenter's first holiday effort, Come Darkness, Come Light. It's quite an album of the times. I share with you one titled simply, "Christmas Carol." I don't know if anyone could have given us a song so timely -- as if months ago in the studio she could see this past week coming with all its dreary and otherwise unbelievable news.

So after a little tidying, I will open a Sam Adams winter lager, drag out the paper and bags and bows and tape and scissors, and turn up the music. I hope that as you begin to create your own kind of holiday, you'll find a way to reinvent the things you want to change, all the while finding that little piece of candy in your stocking.

Christmas Carol

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Come Darkness, Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas