{"id":22912,"date":"2019-11-06T15:45:14","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T21:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=22122"},"modified":"2019-11-06T15:45:14","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T21:45:14","slug":"a-boomers-journal-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=22912","title":{"rendered":"A BOOMER\u2019S JOURNAL: The Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Holiday Season Begins With Ghosts & Goblins<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Tom Anselm<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Tom Anselm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The official \u2018kick-off\u2019 for this year\u2019s\nholiday season has come and gone. Halloween, the night of ghosts and goblins,\nghouls and zombies and the occasional homicidal clown, was a cold one. Fitting,\nI suppose, given the emphasis on dead things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The present-day celebration has its origins\namong the ancient Celtic religion, brought to America by the Scots and the\nIrish. It found its way into the stores in the 1930s, went booming in the 1950s\n(of course!), and today rings up sales in the multi-millions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

   However, in many-a mind, the candy\nnotwithstanding, it is a weird holiday, one that seems to get more out of hand\nand gruesome each year. Now, those in the Hispanic culture seem to have more of\nthe right idea when it comes to these mid-fall festivities. Originating in\nMexico, El Dia de Los Muertos honors family who have come before and gone on to\ntheir heavenly rewards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Catholics and some other Christian denominations have All Souls and All Saints Day, which place emphasis on respect and commemoration with special Masses and services. In life, we will always have death. \u2018Crossing over.\u2019 \u2018Going to the Promised Land.\u2019 \u2018Shuffling off this mortal coil.\u2019 \u2018Meeting St.Peter at the Pearly Gates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

   \u2019So what a juxtaposition this first holiday\nof the season offers us. Blood and gore on one hand, solemnity and remembrance\nand honor and prayer on the other. Like many things in our American culture,\ncommercialization and the opportunity for profit can cast a taint on the real\nmeaning. Costumes and lawn ornaments and 3000-ft. retail pop-ups filled with\nevery imaginable form of mayhem-themed outfit and tool, sexy this and sexy\nthat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0 I even saw a costume for Sexy Nun. Yep. Over. The. Top. In my day (old man talk, friends), we\u2019d find some old clothes from dads bottom drawer, put on a stupid hat and grab an old pillowcase and out the door we went, not to be seen again for hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Today\u2019s kids do have fun, though, eat a lot\nof crap, maybe puke in their beds later, and generally don\u2019t get too caught up\nin the commercial side. That\u2019s for us adults to dive into.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

   At least with El Dia de Los Muertos, they\ncombine the love and respect with the party and the costume, having memorial\naltars and face-painting and traditional clothing, even some places celebrating\non the actual gravesites of their ancestors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0 So I guess there is a place for both the dastardly and the divine in this season when the trees are dropping their colorful adornments and the temps already trending downward. Time to get a little silly, time to take stock and remember those who gave of themselves for us all. It is up to each of us to pick the better parts of all aspects, according to our disposition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  And to eat a butt-load of them Fun-Size\nSnickers, of course!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Holiday Season Begins With Ghosts & Goblins By Tom Anselm     The official \u2018kick-off\u2019 for this year\u2019s holiday season has come and gone. Halloween, the night of ghosts and goblins, ghouls and zombies and the occasional homicidal clown, was a cold one. Fitting, I suppose, given the emphasis on dead things.     The present-day celebration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,16,17,20,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columnists","category-ferguson","category-florissant","category-hazelwood","category-health-seniors","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nA BOOMER\u2019S JOURNAL: The Holidays - flovalleynews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=22912\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A BOOMER\u2019S JOURNAL: The Holidays - flovalleynews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Holiday Season Begins With Ghosts & Goblins By Tom Anselm     The official \u2018kick-off\u2019 for this year\u2019s holiday season has come and gone. 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