Yes, yes—we’re already into 2024, and at this point, Christmas 2023 is a distant, fuzzy memory.  But as I’ve pointed out in other posts this holiday season, Christmastime traditionally runs through Epiphany, on 6 January.  So, why not keep the Christmas spirit alive just a bit longer—eh?

In reading Ponty’s Christmas missive, you’ll get a sense for how much he loves the intimate coziness and spirit of Christmas.  Even more, it’s hard to miss how much he loves the intimate coziness and spirit of Tina, his beloved girlfriend/common-law wife/soulmate.  Whatever they are, they are meant for each other, just like the characters in the Hallmark movies Ponty endures each December.  Nothing says, “I love you” like letting your significant other own a hotel on Boardwalk in Monopoly.

I share something of Ponty’s resigned pessimism for the future.  Like Ponty, though, it does not stem from a place of hopelessness, but rather inspires me to dedicate myself more to the people in my life.  There’s precious little I can do about national politics (or a bunch of stoner judges in Colorado), but I can do a great deal to help those around me—even if that means losing a few games of Monopoly.

With that, here is Ponty sharing about his and Tina’s wonderful Christmas and New Year’s plans:

After weeks of preparation and buying and wrapping presents and sorting out the grocery orders and getting the decorations up, the big day is upon us already. In a week’s time, we’ll be getting ready to bring in the New Year and then in 10/11 short months, we’ll be back to routine, dodging shoppers and trying to remain patient amongst the crowds whilst getting ready for another Christmas. Tina went above and beyond with the decorations this year; our fifteen-year old tree, which has been with us since our very first Christmas together, was adorned with baubles and lights in the bedroom and we ended up getting a new tree for the living room (on sale – score!) which she decorated equally well. I personally love what she has done with the hallway; a lovely mixture of green and white, the lights wrapped in soft garlands.

I apologise for not including any of our trees. I did take the pictures but they didn’t come out very well. I need to find a camera with better shake control.

We started on the Christmas movies at the back end of November and though we’ve bulleted through our own stock, we’re still going through the cheesy Hallmark type films, some of which we’ve quite enjoyed. In fact, my gift to you, Tyler, is a sweet Christmas movie called The Road Home for Christmas (2019), about rival pianists taking a road trip back to their respective homes for the holidays and who find that they have more in common than they knew. Tina and I quite enjoyed the songs featured in the film and I figured it might be something to recommend, if you’re interested. It’s free on Prime but if you don’t have Prime, you should be able to find it anywhere.

The Yuletide yarns we’re watching follow the same pattern; always romance; characters smile so much, their jaws must be made of tungsten; and everyone is so damned friendly. Watch enough of these films and they’ll do one of two things: make your cynical soul wretch at the thought that people can still be this nice, or warm your cockles and remind you that not everyone in the world is as grouchy as you are. As much as I enjoy them, I’m glad we only get to watch them for one month a year.

Since 2020/1, these flicks have contained one more thing – ethnic/gay best friend – but they still follow the same process; guy meets gal, they warm up to each other, simplistic conflict gets in the way until they realise they’re made for each other and they get together at the end. There are still baking/decorating/cutting down the Christmas tree montages and they are still fond of the hot chocolate. In fact, if American life reflects this love of the sweet drink and you ever find yourself single, pop to a sweet little town off the beaten tracks, find a girl you’re attracted to and if she offers you a hot chocolate, you’re golden. In her head, she’ll already be picking out flowers and venues for your wedding.

When Christmas Eve comes around, the TV will be off and we’ll be in game mode; the Michael Bublé Christmas classics will be playing in the background, the sherry will be open and we’ll be sitting down, ready to play either Rummikub, Monopoly, or some other board game. Or as I see, I’ll be getting ready to lose badly. Monopoly is one of the worst for me. I don’t have that vindictive nature and the idea of forcing Tina into a position where she loses everything, causing me to leap to my feet, do some dodgy dancing (or Tribbiani arm waving) and cheer the roof down, doesn’t appeal to me. Mostly because she gives me the big eyes and she knows I can’t resist them so I throw out stupid deals which means I invariably lose and it makes Tina happy. From my perspective, that’s a win-win situation. Dice games, I try to avoid like the plague. I don’t know why, but I have the worst dice roll in history. Tina will back me up on that. We got one of those dice towers, where you drop your dice in, they roll around a bit and fall out at the end. It’s supposed to be random but my rolls are still unlucky. We played Risk a few years ago and I tried taking one of Tina’s countries with an army; she had, if memory serves, about 3 infantry men protecting that area and still decimated my troops. Never again. There are some games on the consoles that ask for dice rolls, like Liar’s Dice in Red Dead Redemption, and I’m still crap at it. I know it’s impossible but the system knows it’s me!

New Year’s Eve is usually a quiet affair with us, just as Christmas is. Neither of us have large families and the family that are still left live a good distance from us so it’s just me and Tina, which is how we like it. The food comes out, the games are prepared, we knock on the music and await the countdown that takes us into the next year, happy in the present and not thinking overly about what the New Year will mean to us. Thinking back to last year, we weren’t overly excited at the prospects of 2023, essentially because we knew little would change, and if I’m being honest, I don’t think anything will in 2024. The world is becoming harsher, more mistrustful, the people more wedded to the state and we conservatives will find ourselves, as we have done for the last decade or so, with our backs to the wall fighting what will be a losing battle. Here, anyway. I hear that in America, the Trump Derangement Syndrome is already in overdrive, Colorado being a big talking point at the moment, but here in Blighty, well, we’ve had quite a few by-elections this year and the seats have mostly turned red so next year, which will mark our general election, is going to be a pretty miserable time. I think some of my fellow posters at The Conservative Woman share the same sentiments as I do; try to make the best out of the remainder of your life, resist where you can and don’t heavily involve yourself in the politics, because when all is said and done, the people in this country are so stupid, they will continue to vote for self harm. Some seem to have forgiven our current ‘conservative’ government for their lockdown sins but most appear to believe that the party that started the rot (Labour) are the party to fix what our incumbents have ruined for the last thirteen years. They’re deluded and unfortunately, there’s no getting through to these people.

So as we go into 2024, we’ll try to change our own lives for the better. Maybe I’ll return to the book, try to relax with it this time and not put too much pressure on myself. If it is successful, great, if not, I’ll play around with other ideas and see what comes from them. I always try to do better in my work (mental health) but it really is like fighting an invisible Hydra. Mental health services in this country are terrible so, as always, I’ll continue to go it alone and see what more I can do. I’ll continue to limit the articles I send to TCW because politics has been dragging me down over the years and I need to keep my head straight but I probably will send the odd piece over to you because in those instances, at least I’m writing about something that brings me joy and not misery.

On that note, Tina and I wish you, Audre and your brilliant readers a very merry Christmas and we hope that your lives will be enriched in the New Year.