Recently in Holiday Category

What? Like I need to elaborate?

Oh, fine:

Because, you know, if I did not wish you one, there would be no post on my blog for the first day of the new year.

That is all. You may all now continue on with your hang over. That is, if you drank to the passing of the old year.

Excessively.

Giving me job security.

Thanks!

Okay, if you want to hold a protest, first rule of thumb; never schedule it when it will impact individuals and families more than it will bureaucracies and corporations.

(McClatchy) WASHINGTON -- Unwilling to gamble with their on-time arrivals, the nation's airline passengers on Wednesday ignored calls to protest heightened airport security measures on the busiest travel day of the year.

Airports from Los Angeles to New York reported no major passenger-related slowdowns as of Wednesday evening, as the Thanksgiving travel crush reached its peak with an estimated 1.6 million people taking to the skies.

At the Sea-Tac Airport between Seattle and Tacoma, the longest lines Wednesday morning formed at Starbucks. Travelers were able to proceed from the check-in counter through security checkpoints and on to their respective gates without delay. Airport observers noted that crowds were thin compared even to a non-holiday weekday.

Now, had this been scheduled during a time of political/financial travel, than there might have been a higher level of participation from civic-, and liberty-, minded individuals. But during a holiday? When people simply want to get together with their families and enjoy each others company? Sorry, but it was a stupid idea to hold a obstinately political protest during a non-political holiday. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Yes, I know many families argue politics during holiday get togethers. But that's more about family dynamics, not about politics itself.

Instead, use this as civil disobedience during, say, some major international gathering of world leaders in the United States, such as a G-20 summit. When it becomes obvious that the scanners and invasive pat-downs are used as a protest tool against other issues, then you will see some substantial changes.

May the time with your family be of joy, love, and happiness. And may your waistline not exceed your button's ability to hold it back.

Every so often people do something so small, yet so significant that it gives me hope. This is just that type of event:

Last Saturday, Dec. 5th, something startling and wonderful happened at The Aramingo Diner in Port Richmond.

The 52-year-old landmark restaurant at 3356 Aramingo Ave. is open 24 hours a day, so it's always a-bustle. But the place really hops during weekend breakfast and lunch time. Last Saturday was no different, and both wings of the diner - the booth area and the bigger dining room -  were lively.

The manager on duty, Linda (who asked that I not mention her last name here, for reasons I can't get into but let's just say everything worked out okay...), tells me that a couple in their 30s paid their check at the register, then asked the cashier to let them secretly pay the check of another couple in the dining room - a couple they didn't know.

"They just wanted to do it," she said. "They thought it would be a nice thing to do."

When the unsuspecting patrons went to pay their check, they were floored to find out that strangers had picked up their tab. So they asked the cashier to let them pay another table's check, also anonymously.

When that table's patrons approached the register, they, too, decided to pay the favor forward for yet another table of unsuspecting strangers.

You know where this is going, right?

For two hours, delighted customer after delighted customer continued to pay the favor forward. And a buzz began to grow. Not among patrons, who had no inkling what was going down at the register, but among the dining-room wait staff  - Marvin, Rosie, Jasmine and Lynn - and other Aramingo workers moving in and out of the room.

"We were amazed," says Linda, adding that neither she nor her staffers that day recognized any of the participating patrons as regulars. "Nobody knew each other. But once they found out someone paid their check, they got excited and wanted to do the same thing for another table."

Hat Tip C&L

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy the turkey, enjoy the ham, enjoy the company of loved ones, enjoy the political discussions with the wingnut relatives, and most important of all, enjoy the cranberry sauce. Jellied, of course.

You like whole cranberry sauce!?!?!? Seriously, what is wrong with you?