Renaissance Dad: Holiday Perfect By Jon Kile
JON KILE
It’s the holiday season and that means social media is about to explode with informative sharing and fun tips for making sure your
holiday is the best, but not too much better than everyone else’s, because some people are less fortunate, but you’re definitely more grateful, but
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not in a judgy way, you just want everyone to have a great Christmas, or whatever holiday they celebrate, even those who don’t celebrate anything. Did I cover all of the bases? Of course not. I didn’t even mention the pandemic! What do you get when you mix holidays and the pandemic? Well, for starters, some people were threatening to decorate for Christmas in the summer, because that would somehow make them feel happy. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t know if I want to dust around Christmas decorations for six months. I’m kidding; we never dust in our house. Having young kids makes the holidays even more fun. Especially now that they’re old enough to be a little materialistic about what Santa brings them. But the pandemic brings in a new wrinkle with Santa. How do they communicate with Santa during COVID-19? Are we going to have a plexiglass visit with Santa like he’s in prison? Our oldest is 11 years old and, well, I’m pretty sure he’s just going along with the Santa thing for the gifts. The other day he declared that he’s asking Santa for a PS5 – a new, expensive game console to replace his other pretty new, expensive game console – because he knows we aren’t going to buy him a PS5. He said this with a look that meant, “Surely you’ll buy me a PS5 to keep the Santa thing alive for my little sister just one more year.” My wife pirouetted around this with ease: “Santa doesn’t bring you a million dollars just because you ask for it.” Our daughter is 7, and her doubts are a little more innocent. She’ll ask, “Dad, do you think Santa is real?” And I’ll say, “Of course. Does he bring you presents every year?” I learned this from a meme on social media. Santa is as real as you want him to be, and believing in Santa results in… gifts from Santa. Thanks, Facebook! Which brings me back to the original topic: social media. Modern manufacturing practices make it possible to erect enormous displays at very little cost. And you can hire a company to come out and make your house look like Clark Griswold’s and you don’t even have to keep a bunch of crap in your attic. But I’m
theGabber.com | December 17 - December 23, 2020
