Maybe it’s the fact we haven’t had one really good, socked-in snowstorm yet, but I’m just not feeling Christmas this year.
I appreciate the retailers who are trying to put me under their holiday spell with tinsel-draped, door-buster sales and all those decorations they put up in September.
KOSI (101.1 FM) already is spinning around-the-clock Christmas tunes. Even The Wolf, one of my favorite country stations, has gone seasonal, 2 4/7. (Does the world really need a Rascal Flats version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”?)
But all this holiday cheer just isn’t working. Not yet.
Christmas is in 26 days and not one sugar plum has danced in my head.
It could be that the news is a constant drumbeat of economic Armageddon. Wall Street is shakier than the Denver Broncos’ playoff hopes. Our financial house of cards will collapse, we’re told, unless we prop it up with nearly $8 trillion in taxpayer investments and guarantees — money we don’t have.
Who wants to shop when you’re not even sure your bank will make it to Christmas?
If you see the three wise men this year — or any three wise men — tell them to double up on the gold and hold the frankincense and myrrh. When your government resorts to printing more money when it runs out of the real stuff, gold suddenly is worth its weight in, well, gold.
If only we could find three wise men. Instead, we have the Big Three wise guys with their hands out before Congress, demanding a bailout for auto industry problems that have been revving long before this credit crisis.
Nationally, the jobless rate continues to climb and experts think it will spike after the holiday season.
Colorado’s booming oil and gas industry was expected to help us weather the economic storm. But last week, The Post reported the industry is struggling with plummeting commodity prices, a tight credit market and an uncertain regulatory environment.
Hiring freezes have been ordered and the number of drilling rigs in the Piceance Basin in Western Colorado is projected to drop by as much as 60 percent during the first quarter of 2009.
Bah, humbug.
Santa, if you’re reading this, know that we’ve been good little boys and girls and could really use some sort of boom for Christmas. A boom in anything. Oil. Natural gas. Tourism. Renewable energy.We promise not to regulate it to death.
Tough times have hit Santa, too, and he’ll be forced to explain to children everywhere that recessions can rock even the North Pole. Consumer spending last month plunged 1 percent, the biggest drop since the Sept. 11 attacks.
This could be the year we’re finally forced into realizing we can’t find that elusive holiday spirit by running up credit cards we can’t afford to pay off.
We may have to find the holiday spirit in simple things. Time spent with family. The generosity of strangers. The warmth of a friend’s home.
Not to sound too sappy, but we could use an extra dose of “It’s A Wonderful Life” this year.
Like old George Bailey, some Americans are so beat down by life that we’re missing all of the wonderful things around us.
I sometimes find myself in that group. For a recent homework assignment, my oldest daughter had to draw a picture of her family and write three descriptive words for each member. Mine were: “nice,” “funny,” “bizy.”
A soft dagger to the heart, but a warning flare, as well. A sign to find time for special moments.
Perhaps we all should vow to look at life a little more like George Bailey this year, through different, less-jaundiced eyes. If we do, we’ve got a better chance of finding that holiday spirit they’re always singing about on KOSI.
Dan Haley can be reached at dhaley@denverpost.com.
