Have Yourself a Very Little Christmas

 This year in Bali is less Christmassy than ever before, which is to say that there is practically no hint of Christmas at all, and this is because there are no western tourists. Why go to the trouble of putting up Christmas decor, the store and mall owners no doubt reason, if there are no foreigners here to celebrate the holiday? One sees a plastic Christmas tree here and there, but really nothing much other than that. No window displays, no Santas in the stores. Heck, there are not even any carols playing on the Starbucks sound system. Might as well put up a sign: Christmas closed this year due to COVID. 

Moreover, the weather is deadly hot, often raining, and deadly hot whether rainy or sunny. The expectation of a certain sort of weather during Christmas is deep in the soul of a native Oregonian. Something in him just automatically anticipates cold, frost, maybe even snow. This blunt and beating sunshine is just not right. 

But maybe Christmas is kind of a drag this year no matter where you are.  COVID has interrupted and mutated so much of our shared experience. And then of course there are the yearly Christmas and Christian haters on Facebook, telling us tirelessly, once again, how religion is the greatest evil known to man. 

Sweet little Jesus boy, they made you be born in a manger. Sweet little holy child, we didn't know who you were. 

I hear that all of the little dogs will be neutered on the 23rd of December. This seems part of the neighborhood peace treaty with the dog haters. Boy do those dogs have a Christmas surprise coming. 

The house that Louis is building behind my little place has a second story now and is actually starting to look like a house rather than an immense pile of stones, bamboo poles and mounds of dirt, the latter element often being spread through my place by the dogs. I am told that the house will have three bedrooms, a fully furnished kitchen, of course, and even a small indoor pool. Sounds nice. If I could only find two other people willing to pay 3 million rupiah a month along with my three million, I'd move in myself!