Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Today, I begin my annual blogging hiatus, which will last until Tuesday, January 6, 2026, when I will resume posting here. I may or may not pop up on Twitter in the meantime.

***

This time of year, I like to re-read my favorite essay about Christmas, by Leonard Peikoff, who sums up his sentiment that "Christmas Should Be More Commercial," in part as follows:

Life requires reason, selfishness, capitalism; that is what Christmas should celebrate -- and really, underneath all the pretense, that is what it does celebrate.

This year, being more in need of a break and in a more contemplative mood than usual, I was interested in finding a similar piece on New Year's Day, and found one by Scott McConnell titled, "What is the Meaning of New Year's?".

If I were similarly to pick a single sentence of this piece to convey its message, it would be the following:

Every resolution you make on this day implies that you are in control of your self, that you are not a victim fated by circumstance, controlled by stars, or owned by luck, but that you are an individual who can make choices to change your life.

When I was young, I used to scoff at New Year's resolutions, partly because I thought Shouldn't one be rational all the time? and partly because I saw so many people make hackneyed resolutions that they quickly forgot about. My error wasn't in either observation, but in a sort of ad hominem applied to the practice. Just because "everyone" does something (or does it badly) doesn't necessarily damn that "something."

I could have stood to think, Why might a rational person want to make a point of self-assessment and goal-setting on a regular basis, and what would that look like? I strive to do this now, and better late than never! I don't make resolutions every year, but I do make them from time to time.

This year will be one of those times.

It is thus fitting, -- even if the timing is a historical coincidence -- that the holiday that celebrates the rewards of reason, Christmas, precedes the one that reminds us of the opportunity we always have to exercise it.

Another coincidence will tie the two holidays together like a bow for me: My wife loves Christmas, but comes from a family whose way of celebrating it overwhelms me and has caused me to dread the holiday on some level. (This year, that dread reached the point that I didn't even think about decorating outside for it until we drove home Saturday and all the lights in our neighborhood caused me to realize we still had Thanksgiving wreaths up on our front door!)

Thanks to her short blog post, "Good Will to Man," showing up in my blog feed, Jean Moroney of Thinking Directions has come to my rescue here.

The below quote won't do the piece full justice, but it will help motivate me to do better on decorating next year and take a more active role in finding a way to celebrate Christmas that will work for my wife, the kids, and me:

Walking around the neighborhood a few years ago, I realized how much I appreciated the festive mood created by people lighting up their houses. So now we light up our house -- to pass on that goodwill to the newest neighbors. And also because in Florida, there's no such thing as a white Christmas unless you put white icicle lights on your house!

This is helpful to me because I often find customs easier to follow when I can grasp good reasons for following them.

I highly recommend reading the whole thing for its overall message, which extends beyond the holidays and is particularly relevant after this very difficult and exhausting year.

-- CAV

P.S. We're going to miss this event this year, but I have a calendar reminder ahead of time to find a way to go next year. If you're new to New Orleans, as I am, take a look. It runs until New Year's.