Conventional Wisdom

(Historical Notes: If you read any of those free Christmas blogs I put up on Patreon, you’ve already heard most of this, but I’ve developed a complicated relationship with the whole “Christmas starting too early” thing.  For the longest time, I was absolutely against doing ANYTHING Christmas related before December, on the grounds that dragging the holiday out too long drained it of its specialness.  But then the specialness started draining anyway just as a natural consequence of getting old and bitter, and I wound up starting my Christmasing earlier and earlier just because I needed something to wash away the bitter taste of the rest of the year.  I guess this page comes right in the middle of that ideological 180.)