Christmas Spirit

[kaasirpent]

At my workplace — which I commonly refer to in public as "Romper Room" for Reasons™ — we have a habit of going all-out at Halloween and Christmas. Decorating our cubes, entire departments, etc. There are contests and decent money is awarded for the best decorating. $200 for a team or $100 for an individual at Halloween.

This year, the Halloween decorations were . . . lackluster to say the least. There wasn't as much participation, and the people that did participate didn't go as all-out as they have in prior years.

And, for the first time in several years, there is no Christmas decoration. At all, at least among my cow-orkers. There's a tree in the main lobby with fake presents, and the guards at the reception desk are wearing Santa hats. And on my floor, someone put out a little Christmas-tree-shaped tray of peppermint candies with Hershey's Kisses™ 'ornaments' next to the elevator. And I have my signature 'reindeer peppermint' on my filing cabinet (see image above). But that's it. Last year, we had whole Christmas villages in various departments, complete with people dressing up as elves or Santa, baked goods, fake cobblestone paths, chimneys, snow . . . you name it.

This year . . . nothing.

I'd chalk it down to a certain . . . how do I put this? "Societal ennui"? "Political weariness"? "Existential dread"?

I would, except that, judging from the very few times politics have been brought up in the eleven years I've worked here, I'm in the vast minority, politically. I'm judging based on snippets of conversation, desk decor, and bumper stickers on cars.

So I have to wonder what's causing the sense of 'meh, hum...whatever' that seems to rule around me. Is it the same elsewhere? Or has Romper Room just gone Scroogetastic?