What do newlyweds have to do with excited kids and a white Christmas?

While everyone is busy reflecting on this year and compiling "Top _____ of 2006" lists, I am, as usual, pondering about basically random things and blogging about a select few of them. Here are some holiday thoughts — which have little significance, I just thought they would be a nice break from the important stuff: For many, especially children, the lead up to Christmas is like the lead up to a marriage. Yes there are fears of getting bad or not enough presents — like the matrimonial fear of commitment — but there is also that passion and joy that to-be-wed and newly wed couples often enjoy. This is where the concept of a 'white Christmas' (a Christmas with snow) may actually be more detrimental than enjoyable for those observing Christmas. The lead up to opening the presents — like the lead up to a wedding — is filled with worry and passion. Afterwards, there is a newly-wed kind of aura around the new couple and the honeymoon period of relationship bliss, which is like the period after opening presents for kids. A while down the road the presents loose there appeal, the same thing that happens with many a marriage. Christmas for children is quite comparable to young newlyweds' wedding period and its immediate aftermath. Going back to my white Christmas theory; a white Christmas, with snow for children's enjoyment, may be a distraction in that honeymoon period of presents. Think about it this way: a loving couple excitedly gets married, but soon after, one or both of them needs to work or is occupied by a task cutting into the couple's newly-wed time. Either that intensifies the relationship by making the honeymoon all that more enjoyable (a break from work, after all that waiting), or that often blissful period is shortened because one or both in the couple cannot enjoy one another. With the honeymoon period, post-Christmas, for kids and their presents, a white Christmas — assuming the children go out to play in the snow — can either intensify the fun and freshness of the presents once the kids get back to enjoy them, or the magic is ruined; after all that waiting the mind wants to focus on some other want and wish.

technorati tags: christmas, holidays, presents, wedding, newlywed, society, metaphor

Can the Democrats make a significant difference...

...with their new majority in the US political scene?

A butterfly flapping its wings in Cancun could trigger a tectonic plate shift in the Yukon, thus rendering much of the Earth's surface to constant metamorphosis... wiping out a billion people and countless other beings due to earthquakes, tsunamis, and other naturally-caused disasters. (I am referring to the theory of chaos and the Butterfly Effect, not the movie by the way.) But that does not mean it will happen in the next two years, or ever. Same with the Dems.

Have you seen how small their majority is in the Senate (one seat)? Even in the House there are too many conservative Republicans and Democrats to make too much of a difference. Plus, there is a little thing called a veto, a president called Bush, and a need for a two-thirds majority in agreement to override that president.

I guess my point is, any real change that is brought about by the Democrats' revival will be inadvertently caused and unintended, will happen as a result of something indirect or minuscule, or will be likened to the so-called Butterfly Effect. Chaos theory applies to politics as much as anything else, you know.

This, the future of US politics and the Democratic Party's congressional majority, is one of the topics I will be elaborating on, as mentioned in this post.

technorati tags: in+perspective, clearthought, democrats, republicans, gop, dems, chaos, chaos+theory, butterfly+effect, senate, congress, united+states, bush, opinion, news, politics, current+affairs