Christmas Blues Be Gone

When Our Beliefs Depress Us

Another Christmas story, it’s not our hearts that ruin Christmas but Christmas Fears.

Christmas can be a time of war. War between our altruistic upper nature and our selfish lower nation, war between stores altruistic Upper Natures and their selfish profit oriented Lower Natures. And thirdly the community at large, as a consensus of individuals, struggles with the Christmas spirit of gloom and doom.

I call myself I, but ‘I’ is really my little widget hero, Mr/Ms Do, my consciousness. I directs his/her crew, widgets in my head that makes up a happy me; perceptive Ant and Bee, scardy cat Macho, loving Cuddles, wise Geru, patient Turtle, and energetic Rabbit. ‘I’ and crew keeps Dragon, my alter ego, who directs his gang; deceptive Spiedie, selfish Raccoon, blaming Crow, and aggressive Coyote, from hopping up, taking over, and creating a miserable me.

Three tiers of widgets, (1) those in our heads, (2)a consensus of those in stores or other groups of people, and (3) a community consensus of individuals and of the group’s widgets are at war. TV land and News has a large perceptive Ant and Bee who has to keep a large deceptive Spiedie from taking over. It is a fight for truthful news. While a selfish Raccoon runs the local Dive, the counselor’s office has a large loving Cuddles dealing with a large scary cat Macho in the fight for functional behaviors. A gambling Crow officiates over the Video Arcadis as churches and schools have a large wise Geru trying to help others have more purposeful or meaningful beliefs, and a large aggressive Coyote may run the polluting factory while the groups that run stores often have large energetic Rabbits in need of a wise Geru to pick which toys to sell. It is a fight for truthful news, altruistic behaviors, functional beliefs, and non wasteful non polluting toys and stuff.

The widgets that are the consensus of the entire community dwell above and below the land waiting for the right time to jump down to guide or pop up to create havoc. You can see them in the clouds or in deep wholes, or under the bed.

Christmas is one of those times when all Three Tiers of Upper Nature widgets and Lower Nature widgets clash. Delight and havoc both abound. While children dream of presents to come, doting parents want to comply but dread the bills, aunts and uncles fear the drudgery of shopping and cooking. Group Mr/Ms Dos and crews decorate stores while Dragons and their gangs raise store prices on junk, chasing the dollar. Upper Nature Community widgets influence cheer in the streets while Lower Nature widgets wait below to pop up and create sorrow.

In my home, like many others, Christmases Past influence my Ant and Bee, like sugar plumb fairies, to dance around the Christmas trimmings while Spiedie adds snowy cob webs displaying the price tags while predicting stock market crashes.

As the loving doggie Cuddles cruises through the catalogs loving all she can see, Raccoon robs our bank accounts with pending bills wanting our last dollar.

Blue bird Geru chirps and sings the Christmas tunes as Crow squawks the pain and grinding reality of Past Christmas blues.

Turtle holds back Rabbit wanting to tear into those mysterious packages waiting to be ravished. Coyote anticipates the carnage left behind with all the agony of a graveyard of past events.

The dilemma begins way before Christmas with the damn stores throwing in the ornaments, in the isles, with treats for Halloween. Ghosts, Goblins and trees and trimmings intermingling. Those store greedy gremlins of commercial evils motivated by the survival widgets, Dragon and gang, ruin it for us all.

As our eyes dart around with Ant and Bee at the bright colored ornaments, Spiedie’s cobwebs creep us out, capturing our attention and lie to us, disguising and degrading the delights of Christmas decorations.

Trick or Treat candy is surrounded by tarantulas while greedy Raccoons and filthy rodents mingle with Ginger Bread houses haunting us, trashing what love we had, leaving us with the fears of filthy freaks, fake fangs, and foul fantoms.

Like Macho Scardy Cat we abandon the Christmas Spirits and with our tails between our legs we trot off to lick our wounds.

Will it be the beautiful melodious songs of Christmas, like Geru, a garden bird chirping the wonders of nature, or the racket of black Crow, shrouded with the black shawls of halloween, that smother our thoughts with corporate conspiracy, the tricks of the commercial beasts, shoving Christmas in our faces prematurely. Those evil store managers, it’s all their fault squacks Crow with hideous laughter.

What shall we do, patiently wade through the displays with Rabbit’s energy or let Coyote trash it all with the spirits of Halloween. We want to abandon the treats of Halloween and Trick them all by turning around and walking out, determined to be the Scrooge with evil spirits of the past and allowing the Grinch to obliterate it all.

Which widgets will rule? The joyful spirits or the evil? Will the community celebrate or mourn.

The season is coming, brace yourself, will it be a joy ride or a jolt? Will Christmas be Merry or Miserable. Will I have Free Will or be bamboozled. Will I enjoy or is it a Joke, fake or faith. Will I be trapped, trampled, tormented or joyfully find Christmas a time of taunting treats and tantalizing tasks.

It all depends on us, the battles within. The battle of the widgets, mine, yours, and ultimately the effect it has on all groups, ultimately the common, conglomeration, and consensus of us all that creates city widgets. Widgets of curious, loving, thinking, and active freewill or widgets from below, survival widgets looking to lurk above and fill our streets with lies, greed, blame, and violence. Our moods culminate in city function or the dragons of dysfunction.

Like Turtle or Rabbit me and thousands of others withdraw into our shell or flee as fast as we can as if Coyote was chasing us to devour our luck. We high tail it home, sink into our bed, cover our head and and settle in for a long winters nap, until January and a new start.

How do we fight our dragons? Where is our Free Will, our Super hero of conscious choice, Mr/Ms Do, to change our future, master our world, reclaim our freedom, and enjoy the Holidays once again as we did as a child?

We think of the Tiny Tim’s of this world, let them have Christmas. We are through. No angel of ghosts of past, present, and future going to entice us from the safety of our covers. The hell with Christmas.

As we lay there quiet and safe we let a tiny, ever so small, image enter into our heads, just for a second, not too long, the image of a small tyke, by golly, it was me. I was laughing at the Jolly old Elf. It all made so much sense then, so simple, so full of wonderment, Ant and Bee’s delight.

Then we have a flash to an older child with parents gathered around the tree and presents with Macho and Cuddles and wrapping paper everywhere and the parents smiling.

Another flash and a preteen staring at the picture of the name sake of Christmas. Geru flutters above.

Another flash and an adult apparition handing treats to the delicate little hands, mine of days of yore. Rabbit was ecstatic.

Again a small little image, a little voice saying don’t give up, don’t feel trapped. It was me, my consciousness, a little Mr/Ms Do with crew appearing to fight the now very large Dragon and gang of the city.

Oh, it was a fierce fight. The little guy fought to exhaustion, I and crew were surely loosing. There they stood tiny as could be, little Ant and Bee, Macho Scardy Cat, the biggest of all and running off to join Raccoon, Cuddles the loving dog with tail between her legs, Turtle withdrawn in her shell, and Rabbit running off to join Coyote and the Dragon to trash the streets. Such pitiful little characters watching them begin to tear down the central decorated city tree. The whole nation was beginning to mourn with doomsday.

 

Consciousness an exhausted little hero mustered up his strength to yell STOP. All the widgets stopped as if statues. Then ‘I’ went to Cuddles stroking her back and encouraged her to calm Macho Cat with a lick to his face. As she complied Macho shrank and Cuddles grew. Your little hero told Turtle to stop Rabbit by snapping and hanging on to his cotton tail. As Turtle did she grew. All of them were growing together but Geru.

They all stood by Mr/Ms Do and grew together to the size of Dragon and his gang, all but Geru. He was too small for my little hero and crew to win. They desperately needed him to fly above and orchestrate the fight.

I cringed as I became aware it was all because of me, my Geru, he did not believe in Christmas. But how could I believe in something I did not believe in. I sank deeper into my covers peeping out only through my imagination.

I could see tiny Geru circling over head above my head. What would the world or city be like without Holidays, good clean Holidays, Holidays without Crow squawking complaints and obscenities and blaming others for the miseries of the world? Just them Geru dashed out the window with Mr/Ms Do and crew followed by Dragon and gang and my imagination right behind.

The town looked haggard and beaten down with the streets deserted from boredom or crime that abounds. Screams of horror, city traffic honking, smells of garbage, and the smell of gasoline permeated the night. The heat of the pavement perpetuated the smell. Pass time was gambling, drinking, and human trafficking. The cities LN widgets ruled.

Christmas Past had passed though my covers, Christmas Now loomed in the city view. What would be Christmas Future?

My little Geru flew up to a low cloud and like a perched conductor his wings went out and began to wave in the air. Like a wizard of old, sparks shot out from the tips of his wings. He pointed the sparking spray at Ant and Bee and TV stations.

The TV station search lights sprang forth and illuminated the skies. Christmas ornaments began to fall from the sky, like a refreshing spring shower after a hot summer night. Blue bird chirped and melodious Christmas music could be heard. A growing smell of bakery goods and candy began to take over. It was beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.

Mr/Ms Do began to perk up. He grew a little larger. He pointed at Cuddles and urged her on. She looked around at the little town walking down its streets as she walked a parade of people appeared behind her looking into the windows of now illuminated shops. The streets were alive. Then chatter could be heard. It was beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas.

Raccoon tried to hiss at the crowd. They only ignored him. Raccoon began to sleek into the corners of the alleys and disappear.

Crow ominously swept across the sky. By now Geru also had grown. Like a wizard of old he drug his wing across the sky and Santa and sleigh followed behind wiping Crow away. Children below cheered.

Geru swept his other wing and religious symbols appeared in the illuminating clouds. Adults below, like angels, ushered their children to where choirs of roaming singers. People were beginning to Think a Lot Like Christmas.

The town and skies had been transformed. Radio, TV, the streets, and individual homes were full of sights, sounds, happy people, enjoying the tales and events of tradition. It was Acting a Lot Like Christmas.

I was beginning to feel a lot better. The Lower Nature widgets of the city, the stores, and my own were smaller and the Upper Nature Widgets were larger.

But, I thought, what about presents and the economy, and ecology, the strain and stress on ecology to celebrate so frivolously? The earth herself can be damaged.

It’s Our Choice of what we buy, of what we encourage to be eked out of the earth. It was Our Choice to destroy or to build. Well, it was happening, right along with Rabbit, I could not complain, all was alive with every one Christmas shopping, all but me. I shook under my covers, hanging tightly with my stressed knuckles. I needed to put my input into how Christmas should look, feel, think, and do. My vote was my dollar.

Then Mr/Ms Do peered in under where I was. He and his crew including Geru were much bigger then Dragon and gang who had shrunk. Dragon and crew tried to hold me under. Mr/Ms Do and crew pulled me out. I and Rabbit had some shopping to do. Off I ran to find Safe and Sound presents to show others how to go about it. And to think, my little Geru had changed the town. Well, maybe your Geru helped too.