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A CHRISTMAS WISH

CHRISTIAN LOVE WAS DEAD, to begin with. There is no doubt whatsoever about that. The confirmation of its burial was signed by prominent Christian clergymen, the Congress, the Senate, the Supreme Court and at least 40% of the U.S. population. President Trump signed it. Christian love (another name for Jesus, the God of love back in the day and said to have been born on Christmas day) was as dead as a doornail.

There is no doubt that Christian love was dead in the United States of America during the Xmas season on the eve of Christmas 2025. This must be distinctly understood or nothing wonderful can come of the shamelessly ripped-off Dickens’ tale I am about to relate.

Cartoon used by permission: 302456_Trump Insults by Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News, NY

Oh man! The 47th President of the United States was a wicked, cold-hearted, perverse, cruel old man who worshipped gold—a covetous old sinner was he! Trump was the color of a Halloween pumpkin with blond hair that was the texture of straw. But his “best” demonic quality was that he was a consummate liar. He would choose to lie when the truth would serve him better in a given situation. No one with half a heart would ever countenance an audience with him if they didn’t want to lose part of their soul in his presence. He salivated over money, authoritarians, and billionaires with an unrequited passion and disdained the poor and disenfranchised as if they were diseased-infused manure. But in spite of all of his money and friends in high places, he had no taste or class. Everything he touched and everywhere he went, tackiness followed him.

Cartoon used by permission: 301773_Overboard With TACKY Gold by Ed Wexler, CagleCartoons.com

The country Trump ruled was split into two camps in his mind: the “haves and the have-nots”. The “haves” happened to be light of skin, and the “have nots” were of darker complexion who he reasoned had, at one time or another, immigrated from what he called “shithole countries.” One of those citizens worked as a night janitor in Trump’s massive White House scrubbing toilets and collecting trash for minimum wage. Although his hair was totally grey indicating a man of advanced years, he was the size of a pre-teen child having suffered from malnutrition most of his life.

“A Merry Christmas, President Trump, God save you,” said the ‘shithole janitor’ one evening, in a much too cheerful voice for his circumstances. “May I collect your trash, Sir?”

“A Merry Christmas, you say,” barked Trump. “BAH HUMBUG!”

The janitor could barely make ends meet due to his meager salary and lack of healthcare, but despite the fact that he was facing eviction and had no money for Christmas gifts for his kids, the janitor’s face was all aglow and full of good cheer. “Christmas, a humbug, Sir?” said the humble janitor. “You don’t mean that, I’m sure. Weren’t you the one who promised to bring back the greeting of ‘Merry Christmas’ cheer to our country?”

Cartoon used by permission: 301312_Merry MAGA Christmas by Rick McKee, CagleCartoons.com

“I do, and I did,” grumbled Trump. “But I don’t really believe in any of it. Christmas is for suckers. I just said I supported Christmas and Jesus to get votes from the MAGA Christians (talk about suckers), although I’ve been wondering if I’m going to get into Heaven because I haven’t been feeling so great lately. Weird shit keeps happening to my ankles—they’ve turned into disgusting cankles. And for some reason I can’t stay awake in meetings; plus, not enough people are loving Trump throughout the land as they should. I’m not feeling the love from God either, or else he’d make this Epstein shit completely vanish.  Am I going to die soon? Although, I have enough money to buy my way into anywhere, but still….

“Oh, BAH HUMBUG! Anyway Janitor, what right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? Judging from the look of you, you’re poor enough—too poor to get into a garbage dump—let alone Heaven. Here’s the secret: If I could have my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled in fried chicken grease and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!”

“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited,” replied the dark-skinned janitor. “But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas-time—apart from the honor due to its sacred name and origin (if anything belonging to it can be apart from that)—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, Mr. President, though it has never put a Bitcoin or a share of stock in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good and will do me good; and I say God bless it!”

“Oh, bah humbug,” replied the pumpkin-faced old man. “What a load of crock you speak. Where’d you learn to speak English so good anyway?  Don’t answer—not interested in your stupid life. Get out of my face, little brown piggy before I extra-dict, extra-doct, extra-dose…oh, whatever, before I drop kick your smelly, cat-eating carcass back to the shithole country you came here from. No one gave you permission to disturb me. I’m starving. I need to go and get something to eat. My nightly two-patty Big Mac sandwich, Double-sized World-Famous Fries, and a large Diet Coke are waiting in my personal dining room.”

“Well then, I bid you good night Sir, and God bless you—God bless us, everyone!” replied the inordinately cheerful janitor.

“BAH HUMBUG!!

Cartoon used by permission: 302777_Santa’s New List by Christopher Weyant, The Boston Globe, MA

The janitor scurried off to his next chore, as he shook his head in sadness and prayed for the sorry state of the soul of his country’s leader. The Orange King removed himself to his melancholy quarters in the White House to eat his melancholy dinner. No one else lived there in this part of the mansion—not even his wife—not even a mouse. The only other occupants were his gold-plated artifacts and his piles of graft money he’d made since he took office the second time. He gorged himself on two helpings of Big Macs, put on his night bonnet to keep his perfectly coifed hair in place, and opened his social media account to begin the night’s hateful, vile, insipid comments against his perceived enemies.

And then without warning, President Donald J. Trump collapsed into a very deep sleep.

‘Till this day, the President could not remember how long he slept. However, I’m told he remembers very clearly what shook him out of his deep slumber. He heard bells—scores of cacophonous bells ringing in his chambers accompanied by the sound of dragging chains. Trump then remembered he once heard that ghosts in haunted houses were described as dragging chains. The White House was certainly old enough to entertain ghosts. At that moment, his dining room door opened with a booming sound, and a colossal flame which engulfed three figures, appeared before the President’s eyes.

“Who are you?” screamed Trump. “Secret Service, Secret Service, come quickly, I’m being attacked by Antifa.”

“We are not Antifa, and your Secret Service team has fallen asleep under our spell and will remain so until our work here is done. We are the three ghosts of Micah 6:8 from the Bible you say you believe in.  We have been sent to you by the God of Christmas,” said all the ghosts in unison. “We represent the mandate given to all people who say they believe in God, and who claim they want to get into Heaven.”

“Mandate? What mandate,” said Trump. “I didn’t set up any Micah 6:8 mandate, and if I didn’t pass that bill, it ain’t happening! Get out, get out, GET OUT!”

In a perfect Greek chorus recitative, the three ghosts once again spoke in unison. 

Cartoon used by permission: 301485_The Xmas Ghost of Epstein appears by Malcolm McGookin, CagleCartoons.com

“I am the Ghost of Justice,” said a young woman who was the spitting image of all the Epstein young women who were ever defiled by Epstein and his buddies. “We could have all been your daughter’s age at one time or another. I seek nothing more but justice—the truth and nothing but the truth—for I am one face of a thousand. Open the windows and let in the light and expose all you know about these horrific crimes, and I will stop the torment. I can’t give you any guarantees, but it might go a long way in getting you an audience with the powers that be for your application to get into Heaven.

Cartoon used by permission: 302794_Ghost of Epstein past by Dave Granlund, Minnesota

“Hola, hombre despreciable. Soy el fantasma de la misericordia (‘Hello you horrible man. I am the Ghost of Mercy’)!” said the specter, a Hispanic woman who, all in one glance, looked like every immigrant who had been unjustly and cruelly terrorized by ICE. “If you will call off your ICE savages, restore the lives of those they have destroyed, and slavishly work to implement the quote on the Statue of Liberty (‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free’), I will forgive you because doing so would be the embodiment of Christmas—the ultimate Christmas gift—but I can’t make any promises about Heaven.”

“Umph, umph, umph,” said a plus-sized Black woman who was a doppelganger of the actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and who represented an angry ass-whoopin’ for all misbehaving old White men down through the ages. “I don’t really know what to say to you, you sorry-ass old excuse of a human bein’. I am the Ghost of Humility, but I’m not feelin’ very humble toward you this evenin’. I just feel like kickin’ your ass from one pillar to the next post for all the mayhem and chaos you done brought upon all the peoples on the Earth who ain’t rich, White, and male.  Ain’t you the one that’s been goin’ around tellin’ folks you the ‘Chosen One’—comparing yo’self to Jesus? Boy, you ought to be ashamed! If I had my druthers, yo’ sorry ass would roast in Hell for all eternity, but I am in no position to judge—I wish I could judge you, but I can’t. Unfortunately, I have to leave that task up to God. But I’ll tell you one thing, if you look at me cross-eyed this evenin’, I swear to God that I’ll pray the Lawd Almighty will strike your fat ass right down to the very bottom of Hell.!”

Cartoon used by permission: 246479_Donald Scrooge by Bart van Leeuwen, PoliticalCartoons.com

Somewhere midway through the presentation, the Spirits transposed Trump’s own children and grandchildren’s faces on the victims of all his cruel acts. Some of the pictures and clips were so graphic that at least one of the President’s Big Macs erupted through his volcanic piehole to splatter itself all over his clothes and feet. When he couldn’t take it anymore, seeing his own family tormented to such horrid degrees, he begged and begged the Spirits to stop and set him free. At that point, the Spirits roughly scooped Trump up and took him to Arlington Cemetery where one could hear his voice on a loop over a loudspeaker screaming: “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with LOSERS, LOSERS, LOSERS….”

Cartoon used by permission: 288071_Trump at Arlington national cemetery by Bart van Leeuwen, PoliticalCartoons.com

Then the Ghost of Justice pointed to one of the gravestones which read:

Cartoon used by permission: 302850_Trump reaction to Rob Reiner’s death. by Sean Delonas, Cagle.com Delonas

“Before I draw nearer to that gravestone,” said a sobbing Trump, “answer me one question. Are you three the end all and be all of my life? All human lives might foreshadow certain ends, but that doesn’t mean things can’t change before they die. Have you no mercy?

The Spirits were immovable and said nothing.

The President began to sob and shake uncontrollably as he groveled at the feet of the Ghost of Justice. “No, Spirit! Oh no, no! Spirit,” he cried, tightly clutching the robed arm of the Ghost of Mercy. “I’m so sorry! Please forgive me! Hear me! I am not the man I was at the start of this night. Your presentation has made me see the error of my ways. I saw my family in the faces of those poor wretches. Come on guys, why show me my gravestone if I am past all hope?”

Cartoon used by permission: 270092_You are the Naughty List by John Darkow, Columbia Missourian

“Good Spirit,” Trump continued, as he fell before the Ghost of Humility, “your nature should intercede for me, and pity me. Assure me that I yet may change these images you have shown me by an altered life?

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God. I swear to God, I’ll change if the spirits of all three of you will strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that you teach. Oh, tell me I may erase away the writing on this stone!”

At which point, the spirits suddenly vanished and the 47th President of the United States woke up with the morning sun from the East window baptizing him in a stream of redemptive light as it reflected off a Big Mac wrapper stuck to his left orange cheek. However, he paid the food wrapper no never mind, as he gleefully rang his Chief of Staff.

Cartoon used by permission: 189238_Christmas News by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune

“Susie, call a meeting of my Cabinet for the day after Christmas and tell them that the agenda will focus on multiple urgent matters to begin with: complete exposure of the Epstein files to the public (let the chips fall where they may), a total reversal of ICE orders, securing lower fair prices for Obamacare, and the cancelling of my social media site (between the junk food and my late-night hate-rants on social media, I’m having some awful nightmares).

“Also, send someone with enough groceries fit for a Mar-a-Lago Christmas dinner to the night janitor’s home. Find out if he has kids and grandkids. If he does, please send a truck load of presents. Grab one of Melania’s Christmas trees and take it to the janitor and his family, and when we return let’s take a look at his salary—let’s increase it to a substantial living wage.  What’s his name, by the way? He never properly introduced himself.

“What, Susie? What’s that you say? The janitor’s name is Micah Sixate? (“That old man was ‘Micah 6:8,’ the place from which the three spirits of my nightmares hailed?”), muttered the President. (“Well, I’ll be damned….”) And with all the joyous release of a prisoner having escaped a date with the guillotine, the President began to laugh, and laugh, and laugh with overwhelming joy!

“MERRY CHRISTMAS, SUSIE!” shouted President Trump into his phone. “May God bless you, my friend, and may God bless ALL THE PEOPLE in the United States of America!”

Cartoon used by permission 291258_Merry Christmas by John Darkow, Columbia Missourian

Want to learn more about the author and her latest book? Check out: http://www.eleanortomczyk.com

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Blog published by Howthehelldidienduphere? Publications LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

 
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Posted by on December 18, 2025 in Uncategorized

 

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NAUGHTY IS THE NEW NORMAL (XMAS SATIRE)

By: North Pole Beat Reporter

NORTH POLE CHRONICLES: BREAKING NEWS! Santa has gone AWOL!

An unnamed whistleblower has just leaked the news that Santa fled the North Pole sometime last week. Rumor has it that the Old Man fled in total disgust due to the changing of the rules regarding who is naughty or nice as well as what is good behavior versus bad in America.

Another unnamed source said that Santa had been in despair since the recent American Presidential election because he had come under inordinate pressure from the majority of Americans to remove the name of “he who should not be named” from the Naughty list. To make matters worse, “he who should not be named” had been on Santa’s Most Wanted Naughty Dude list for years and was the gold standard for badness. The pressure to remove the “bad dude” from this list cut to the very core of Santa’s soul.

Cartoon used by permission: 290933_NATIONAL Trump demands to be on Santa’s Nice List by John Cole, Georgia Recorder, georgiarecorder.com

When Santa’s Chief of staff (Senior Elf Ramona) was contacted by this reporter, she reluctantly admitted that Santa had indeed run off and was nowhere to be found. However, she surmised that it wasn’t just the compromising of the Nice List that caused him to go AWOL, but it was the way the so-called guardians of Christmas (MAGA Christians) were treating their countrymen that truly broke his heart. Santa recently overheard the conversation of two longtime golf partners leaving a Golf Pro Shop in America after a golf game at their country club. As they parted, one of the ladies wished the other a blessing of “Happy Holidays” with a twinkle in her eye and a heart brimming with love and genuine Christmas spirit. The other golf partner’s face immediately turned dark with anger as she snapped back with the venom of a cobra: “IT’S MERRY CHRISTMAS! in my neck of the woods.”  The cruelty of the words’ divisiveness wounded her acquaintance and slapped the joy from her face. It was at that point Santa announced: “O.K. I’m done! Christmas is a joke to these MAGA people!”

It’s been reported that Santa contacted his employer (Jesus the Christ) to warn him of the changing tide against the true spirit of Christmas in America and asked the Lord to intervene—seeing that it was his birthday, and all. But his CEO said: “No can do, Homie! The people have spoken. They begged for this Orange king like their ancestors of old begged for a king*, so I gave them what they wanted (just like I did their ancestors) even though I warned them over and over again, and every which way but Sunday, that their Orange king would be selfish, cruel, oppressive, ruthless, and naughty to the core. They ignored my messengers and voted him in as their head leader anyway. They were blinded by idolatry, and they fell in love with a false god while ignoring the true God of Christmas. Therefore, I have washed my hands of the situation until they come to their senses. Let’s hope that happens sooner than later for the sake of the children.”

Cartoon used by permission: 291019_Cindy Lou Who Fawns Over the Grinch by Rick McKee, CagleCartoons.com

Elf Ramona said that Santa had left a departing note: “Dudes and Dudette Elves—Not sure when I’ll return. Please don’t search for me and don’t try to follow me. I need to go some place where ‘lies are not considered truth,’ and ‘hate doesn’t masquerade as love.’ While I’m gone, I recommend you ‘refresh’ the Santa Newsletter on Substack every once and awhile with some soul-searching reading and meditative writings that feature stories about a nation in an alternate world that has turned topsy-turvy due to a wicked leader but finds its way back home by embracing the true meaning of being the followers of Truth and Love. Flood the airways with the writings of these truthtellers in the hope that at some point those who have blind eyes and deaf ears will listen and awaken from their trance. For starters, I highly recommend House of Oz Undone by Eleanor Tomczyk. Until we meet again, may the God of Christmas—our beloved leader—fill your minds with a peace that passes all understanding, give you spirits so full of joy that it stomps out all fear, and hearts so overwhelmed with love that no hatred can overpower you.”

* The Bible: 1 Samuel 8:6

Eleanor Tomczyk is a memoirist and humorist blogger renowned for her engagingly funny musings as an ex-Evangelical Conservative Christian (emphasis on the “ex”) and African-American Baby Boomer. Embarking on a new career as a storyteller at 60, she draws on her experiences in White Conservative churches. Now in her mid-70s and a wife, mother, and grandmother, Tomczyk has authored books such as Monsters’ Throwdown, Fleeing Oz, The Fetus Chronicles: Podcasts to My Fetus-self, and House of Oz Undone: A Cautionary Tale. Her multifaceted career also spans roles as a singer, actress, motivational speaker, and award-winning voice-over artist.

Cartoon used by permission: 291012_A Christmas Miracle by Dave Whamond, Canada, PoliticalCartoons.com

Want to learn more about the author? Check out: eleanortomczyk.com

Blog published by Howthehelldidienduphere? Publications LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

 
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Posted by on December 18, 2024 in Uncategorized

 

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DEAR SANTA—IT’S ME, ELEANOR—HELP!

“SANTA BABY,” song reworked and truncated to express my holiday angst at a Higher Being who seems to be missing in action on the Earth because “my arms are too short to box with God” about my anxiety over His seemingly MIA status. (Straight up: my apologies to God—forgive my unbelief, My Savior—and Philip Springer, the song writer.)

Cartoon used by permission: 280703_Everyone has been naughty by John Darkow, Columbia Missourian
Cartoon used by permission: 280851_Decreasing U.S. support for war in Ukraine by Bart van Leeuwen, PoliticalCartoons.com
Cartoon used by permission: 280664_A Gift to Democracy by John Darkow, Columbia Missourian
Cartoon used by permission: 280894_Trump’s complete immunity claim by John Cole, Tennessee  Lookout, TennesseeLookout.com

*Songwriters: Philip Springer / Joan Javits

Cartoon used by permission: 280532_It only seems that way by John Darkow, Columbia Missourian

Eleanor Tomczyk is an author and a satirist who is an award-winning voice-over performer.  In 2011, she created the blog, “How the Hell Did I End Up Here” which features mostly satirical posts that have thousands of readers around the world—although she was recently banned in Pakistan (for real!).  Tomczyk’s three books were featured in a recent book festival: “Monsters’ Throwdown,” “Fleeing Oz,” and “The Fetus Chronicles—Podcasts to my Miseducated Self.”  Currently in her 70s and living life like it is freakin’ golden, she is a consummate storyteller and much sought-after motivational speaker.  If you don’t believe me, just ask her!

Cartoon used by permission: 270109_1290_Re-Post Fragile Globe by Dave Granlund, PoliticalCartoons.com

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links of the author’s writing may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eleanor Tomczyk and “How the Hell Did I End Up Here?” with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. However, the cartoons are under the governance of CagleCartoons.com and cannot be replicated.

 
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Posted by on December 17, 2023 in Uncategorized

 

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OH YES, WE NEED A LITTLE CHRISTMAS, JUST THIS VERY MOMENT. . .

Cartoon used by permission: 280046_Christmas Creep by John Darkow, Columbia Missourian

WW:  Nope, no can do.

ME:    What do you mean, no?!

WW:  Too tacky for words. What will the neighbors think?

ME:    I don’t give a fuck what the neighbors think.

WW:   Hum…well, I do!

ME:    Sheesh, White people!

WW:   I resent that.  It has nothing to do with being White. It has everything to do with what is appropriate. We just finished hiding in a dark house on Halloween so trick-or-treaters wouldn’t think we were home, plus we haven’t even celebrated Thanksgiving yet.

Cartoon used by permission: 278119_Pumpkin Spice Christmas Trees by Rick McKee, CagleCartoons.com

ME:    Listen, Husband-Dude—desperate times call for desperate means.  Have you not noticed that the world has lost its shit?  As far as I’m concerned, we might as well hop right over T-Day because there is no way we can host a Thanksgiving dinner with the guest list that I want without people killing each other between eating the turkey and the pumpkin pie.

“For we need a little Christmas, right this very minute

Candles in the window, carols at the spinet…”

WW:    Well, we don’t have a “spinet”, but thanks for the serenade.  Jerry Herman would be impressed that you’ve still got the vocal chops at 75 years old to sing one of his songs. But I thought we were just inviting our kids, their kids, and your sister for dinner.  Last time I chatted with them, they were still the same race as us, same religion, all Democrats (not a Republican in the bunch, thank God), and hadn’t started any wars. Easy-peasy, T-Day breezy!

ME:    Of which I am grateful, but I would love to expand upon that very safe, very homogenous guest list this year. I think the world needs it.  In a perfect world I’d love to invite Shoshana and David from Fort Lauderdale, Ahmed and Fatima from Little Palestine in Chicago, the Ukrainian waitress from The Country Club, the Russian handyman on my speed dial, and maybe the MAGA couple down the street (although God only knows how I’d survive those two, but I’m working on it).  I mean, I know I’m angry, hurt, and scared to death at how our country—our world—is imploding.  Love seems to be at an all-time low. But I’m trying personally to do better, and a good T-Day dinner served with “Mema” love could go a long way.

WW:   Really?  How so?

ME:    It would be in the invite that I’d broadcast on all the social media platforms. I want to cry out to the Jews everywhere and say: “Never again! My home and heart are safe havens for you. As someone who once lived in the now evacuated town of Kiryat Shemona, Israel for several years, and whose youngest child was born in Haifa, Israel, whose history I have studied, almost extensively as my own African-American history—I GET IT!” I want to rock the Palestinian children of Gaza in my arms and nurture them to health while I sing them a lullaby that says, “I SEE YOU!  You also have a safe place with me in my heart and home.  I hear your cries of wanting a place to belong on this Earth, and as a human I am devastated by your pain.”  What kind of God do I worship if my faith isn’t deep enough to connect the humanity in me with hurting human beings over a meal in an atmosphere of thoughtful belonging, good food, love, and healing—where the only side of the struggle I take on this Earth is on the side of humanity? Does my ability to love only extend to those who love me or agree with me? Don’t you ever wish that we were spiritually mature enough that we could actually…          

“Reach out and touch

Somebody’s hand

Make this world a better place

If you can…”

Cartoon used by permission: 280147_Hamas Snake by Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune, UT

WW:   All this at Thanksgiving dinner?!  Oh, my! We’re going to need a bigger house.  I’m not so sure Thanksgiving dinner with warring family members, at the very least, or war in the Middle East at the very worst was what Ashford and Simpson were thinking about when they wrote “Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand”.  By the way, who is Shoshana and David and Ahmed and Fatima? Did I meet them last year?

ME:    Symbolic couples, Babe.  Work with me here!

WW:    Anyway, as our First World problems would have it, we have more pressing needs than world-peace fantasy Thanksgiving Day dinners or upsetting the neighborhood harmony by stringing up Christmas lights while it’s still 82 degrees and 48 hours shy of Halloween past.  I just discovered that we need a new washer and dryer. Let’s go do something practical and agree to disagree on this subject.  I’m never going to agree with you and participate in Thanksgiving eradication by celebrating Christmas in conjunction with Thanksgiving, and Peace in the Middle East is going to take more than eating T-Day dinner at Mema’s house.  That just ain’t happenin’!

“No, you’re never gonna get it (ow!)

Never ever gonna get it (no, not this time)”

ME:    Oooh, I’m tellin’ En Vogue on you.  Can you imagine the clapback you’d get, using their song to deny a “sista” her Christmas wish for world peace?

ME:     Psst…Honey, did you see the huge sign on the sales guy’s stand?

WW:    No…I’m too busy trying to figure out why we’ve had to go to two different stores, wait in line for 45 minutes, and still are no closer to purchasing a washer and dryer than we were two hours ago. Plus, I’m starving!  Not interested in errant signs. Just need our new washer and dryer.

ME:   The sign says:  PLEASE RESPECT OUR EMPLOYEES! Don’t curse at them, don’t yell at them, don’t threaten them, don’t terrorize them, and don’t abuse them. Thank you, The Management.

WW:  Does it give the customer an exception to the rule if the employee disappears in thin air with your money while pretending to see if a certain set of washers and dryers exist “in the back”?

ME:     Hum? What’s going on in this store? We just came here to replace a broken appliance—not participate in a WWE match. I thought we lived in retirement heaven, albeit mostly Republicans, but a haven, no less. Most of the population here is a bunch of old farts who can barely get out of their own way.  How do they have the energy to bitch-slap an appliance salesperson?

WW:  Soooo true.  Although, it looks like our missing salesman, who I strongly suspect got “raptured,” might be the reason they had to post the sign.

 ME:   This sign would lead one to believe that 70-and 80-year-olds are throwin’ down in huge home improvement stores in our little town over the fact that they can’t get their latest appliances in the style and color of their dreams before they croak. That’s so weird!  Oh, wait a minute… This sign wasn’t posted when we were here before—this is fairly recent.  I bet I know what it is:  Didn’t Trump just label half the population, “vermin”?  Oh my God!  This is it!  The first outbreak of the Civil War in America is starting in our hometown.  Didn’t I tell you that the world has lost its shit?!  Come on, Buddy.  Let’s get out of here!  We’ve got to fight this hateful spirit on the home front. Whether you like it or not, we’re going home to string up some Christmas lights, command Alexa to play our Christmas playlist nonstop, and put a couple of turkeys in the oven to feed the homeless, because if this isn’t a sign of the apocalypse starting in our small town, I don’t know what is!

“What the world needs now is love, sweet love

It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of

What the world needs now is love, sweet love

No not just for some, but for everyone.”

WW:    Amen, Hal David and Burt Bacharach.  From your lips to God’s ears!

Cartoon used by permission: 280129_Good Neighbors by Pat Byrnes, PoliticalCartoons.com

Eleanor Tomczyk is an author and a satirist who is an award-winning voice-over performer.  In 2011, she created the blog, “How the Hell Did I End Up Here” which features mostly satirical posts that have thousands of readers around the world—although she was recently banned in Pakistan (for real!).  Tomczyk’s three books were featured in a recent book festival: “Monsters’ Throwdown,” “Fleeing Oz,” and “The Fetus Chronicles—Podcasts to my Miseducated Self.”  Currently in her 70s and living life like it is freakin’ golden, she is a consummate storyteller and much sought-after motivational speaker.  If you don’t believe me, just ask her!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, FROM THE TOMCZYKS!
Cartoon used by permission: 257427_True meaning of Thanksgiving by John Darkow, Columbia Missourian

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links of the author’s writing may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eleanor Tomczyk and “How the Hell Did I End Up Here?” with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. However, the cartoons are under the governance of CagleCartoons.com and cannot be replicated.

 
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Posted by on November 22, 2023 in Uncategorized

 

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SANTA’S NAUGHTY LIST

DEAR SANTA:

Eleanor T. here.  Why don’t I cut right to the chase?

I don’t like you—I never have. My first memory as a child of Santa Claus was you not showing up when I mailed you my one-item Christmas list: a new baby doll (white or black—I didn’t care) that had never been used.  Which meant, a doll that didn’t have half its hair plucked out, or just one eyeball in place, and wasn’t completely naked. The doll never came, and you never showed. Even at six years old, I kind of suspected you’d punk out because we didn’t have a chimney for you to shimmy down where I lived on skid row. 

Then when I first heard the song, “Santa Claus is coming to town” in the county orphanage where a circuit court judge had tossed me in the middle of the night, I knew you were full of prunes. During my first Christmas in that “abandon all hope, all ye who enter here” placeholder of my life, I concluded you had determined that I was on your constant naughty list. It didn’t take long for me to realize that if you did exist, you needed to change your MO.  I’ve got no problem with you holding people accountable, but you picked on the wrong people group—both then and now. So, here’s an idea: If you want to use your powers for good, how about establishing a new naughty list? BTW: Children should have nothing to do with your manipulative naughty list. Adults only!

I’ve got plenty of horrid people that should end up on your naughty list and you wouldn’t have to check twice to know they are bad to the core and very undeserving of presents.  It’s a given that Donald Trump would be at the top of the list. Add to that naughty list: Kanye West (hater of Jews), Nicholas J. Fuentes (White Supremacist, hater of Jews, Blacks, and anyone with melanin in their skin), and Steve Bannon (misogynist, misanthrope, and racist to the core). You can start with them first.  I have a 500-page book of names I can provide for you.

Cartoon used by permission: 269705_Naughty List 2022 by Christopher Weyant, CagleCartoons.com

Santa, it goes without saying that Vladamir Putin should top your naughty list.  He should precede Trump. Don’t bother giving Putin a lump of coal, just fix it so that he loses the war against Ukraine and gets a one-way ticket to Hell. I bet the children of Ukraine wouldn’t mind skipping toys for Christmas if you gave them their parents and their homes back. Trust me. I know of what I speak.

Cartoon used by permission: 269469_Christmas for Putin by Marian Kamensky, Austria

But I state the obvious. If you’re a bit timid about how to rebrand yourself, you can start with the small things, like attitudes. Bring back kindness. Remember how you first started out way back in Patara (modern day Turkey) in the fourth century.  Then you were known as Nicholas of Bari, and you were very admired for your kindness and generosity. According to Britannica, you became known as the “patron saint of children, sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers”. Legend has it that you rescued three girls in poverty who were being forced into prostitution because they didn’t have marriage dowries. Supposedly you gave their parents enough gold to purchase said dowries and the girls were able to get married. Viola—no hos for the bros! What a story. I recently read (although I find this very hard to believe—understanding how science works and all) that you restored the bodies of three children who had been chopped up by a butcher and put in a tub of brine.  Apparently, after you reassembled them, you brought them back to life.  (Okay, Santa—way to go!)

The point is, given your history, putting unkind people on your naughty list until they repent shouldn’t be too hard for you. In America, we’ve become very mean SOBs.  As the song says, “…we need a little Christmas, just this very moment.”

Finally, I’ve had it with the guns killing innocent people—especially our children. Santa, why don’t we make a deal right here and now, that anybody who sends out Christmas cards with pictures of their family sporting AR-15s, as a congresswoman did one year, gets on your priority naughty list with a slip-and-slide into Hell for a stocking stuffer. In fact, while you’re at it, put any politician, the NRA, and gun makers who refuse to modify the gun laws to protect our citizens onto a top priority naughty list.

There you have it! Hope this helps. Also, can you do me a personal favor and give a little shout out to the God whose birthday Christmas represents?  (Listen, you owe me, Kris!) I personally think you’ve hogged the glory from the birthday king for years now. Not too long ago, a survey was taken in the UK of kids 6 – 13 and at least half of them thought December 25th was to celebrate your birthday. The other half thought Jesus was the name of a football (soccer) player. Seriously, Dude?

As the song* says, did YOU ever “appear and the soul felt its worth”?  When YOU squeezed down the chimney, did the world’s peeps experience a “thrill of hope” that made “the weary soul rejoice”? When YOU got fat off the Xmas cookies left for you, did you stay around to teach us “to love one another” because “His law is love and His gospel is peace”? Did YOU leave notes in our stockings that proclaimed “chains shall He break for the slave is our brother” (that would have been handy during Reconstruction when you first made your recorded appearance in the United States)? Furthermore, if I proclaim the name “Santa Claus”, will that cause the declaration in the heavenlies that “in His name all oppression shall cease”? No, I don’t think so. Bend the knee, Bro, ‘cause you’re a poser compared to the true meaning for the season. (Deep down in your heart, I think you know that.) Therefore, Santa Claus, put a little sack of kindness and love in each of our stockings this year, and maybe I’ll forgive you for your slighting of my childhood. In the meantime, Merry Christmas to you and peace on Earth to all mankind! *Oh Holy Night, by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877)

Cartoon used by permission: 173168_Christmas Day focus by Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com

Eleanor Tomczyk is an author and a satirist who is an award-winning voice-over performer.  In 2011, she created the blog, “How the Hell Did I End Up Here” which features mostly satirical posts that have thousands of readers around the world—although she was recently banned in Pakistan (for real!).  Tomczyk’s three books were featured in a recent book festival: “Monsters’ Throwdown,” “Fleeing Oz,” and “The Fetus Chronicles—Podcasts to my Miseducated Self.”  Currently in her 70s and living life like it is freakin’ golden, she is a consummate storyteller and much sought-after motivational speaker.  If you don’t believe me, just ask her!

Cartoon used by permission: 258177_Merry Christmas by Bob Englehart, PoliticalCartoons.com

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eleanor Tomczyk and “How the Hell Did I End Up Here?” with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 
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Posted by on December 18, 2022 in Uncategorized

 

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LET’S HOLD ONTO HOPE…

AN APROPOS CHRISTMAS SONG FOR 2021

(A Parody of the song “Santa Baby” by Philip Springer—apologies Mr. Springer)

SANTA BABY

Santa baby, just slip some SANENESS under the tree for me

I’ve been a crazy nut-job, I fear

So Santa bring me CALMNESS tonight

Santa baby, some PEACE ON EARTH I’d really love too, so true

I want to really make my point clear

Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney My Dear

Cartoon used by permission: 257845_1290_rgb.jpg Santas Vaxx by Christopher Weyant The Boston Globe MA.jpg

Look at all the crazy shits

Tryin’ to get on your Xmas list

This year you should be aware

That they have caused Earth one giant-ass scare

Santa baby, I want some HOPE and really that’s not a lot

For me to ask of you this year

Santa baby, so calm my heart with Christmas cheer

Santa honey, one little thing I really do need

The hope: That TRUE LOVE really surely prevails

Santa baby, so hurry down and hug me tonight

Santa cutie, fill my stocking with WHITE RESPECT, for Black lives

All GUNS DESTROYED is what I ask for

Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Cartoon used by permission: 257916_1290_rgb.jpg Santa AR 15 letter by Dave Granlund PoliticalCartoons com.jpg

Come and trim my Christmas tree

With some UNITY for masks and shots for free

I really do believe in you

Let’s see if you believe in me

Cartoon used by permission: 246457_1290_rgb.jpg Santa believing by Dave Whamond Canada PoliticalCartoons com.jpg

Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing

MORE LOVE, for mankind who is suffering

Santa baby, bring my Xmas wishes tonight…

Just hurry down the chimney tonight

HURRY—TONIGHT!

ELEANOR’S SELAH ABOUT THE HOPE OF CHRISTMAS

There hasn’t been a time since the evolution of mankind where Earth hasn’t been a scary place to dwell. There has never been a time in Earth’s history when there wasn’t poverty, wars and rumors of wars, intolerance, crooked leaders, slavery, murder, rape, genocide, plagues, disease, premature deaths, refugees, racism, monumental floods, ravaging fires, drought, hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis—somewhere on the globe.

And yet, we are supposed to believe that a baby born in a manger thousands of years ago was/is the hope against all that mayhem. The reason to live.  The courage to keep going.  It’s almost impossible, and yet, I believe…

There was a time when my life was completely hopeless due to poverty, racism, and abuse—so much so, that I wished every day I had never been born.  But somewhere on my journey, the birth of a baby born in a manger gave me hope and vision that saved me from myself and the people who tried to misname me.  I was not the loveless prodigy of their concerted evil.  I was (and still am) the Eleanor who was not a mistake.  The Eleanor who was born to be a warrior, an overcomer, a leader, and a balm of grace through my talents—an addition to the Earth, not a subtraction.

I don’t believe in Santa Claus, but I do believe in the Christmas hope of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

HAVE A HOPEFUL, JOY-FILLED CHRISTMAS, MY FELLOW SEEKERS.

Eleanor Tomczyk is an author and a satirist who is an award-winning voice-over performer.  In 2011, she created the blog, “How the Hell Did I End Up Here” which features mostly satirical posts that have thousands of readers around the world—although she was recently banned in Pakistan (for real!).  Tomczyk’s three books were featured in a recent book festival: “Monsters’ Throwdown,” “Fleeing Oz,” and “The Fetus Chronicles—Podcasts to my Miseducated Self.”  Currently in her 70s and living life like it is freakin’ golden, she is a consummate storyteller and much sought-after motivational speaker.  If you don’t believe me, just ask her!

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eleanor Tomczyk and “How the Hell Did I End Up Here?” with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 
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Posted by on December 17, 2021 in Uncategorized

 

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ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS . . .

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: In case you haven’t noticed 2020 has been a real shit show.  I’m so traumatized that I’ve got God on speed dial, and I’m harassing White Santa Claus every hour on the hour for what I want for Christmas.  Below are a few of my petitions sent directly to the North Pole. 

Cartoon used by permission: 246820_RGB_1290.jpg Stuck at home for Christmas by John Cole The Scranton Times Tribune PA

DEAR WHITE SANTA:  All I want for Christmas is my brain back.  A 72-year-old brain is not supposed to handle a pandemic, a lunatic, racist President who is destroying our country, people dying by the thousands per week—including personal friends—families being evicted on a daily basis, me unable to see friends from out-of-town and family for almost a year, threat of a civil war over to mask-or-not-to-mask, and the curse of possibly getting COVID-19 and dying from it due to my age and comorbidities.  I wrestle with insomnia and my brain is threatening to leave home and not return until Jesus comes back or you show yourself to be real.  I’ve never seen evidence of you in my life, you know.  Remember how you never bought me one toy when I was a poor Black child—not one fuckin’ toy?  I admit I wasn’t the best kid, but I wasn’t the worst either.  You try growing up in foster homes and an orphanage, and see how you manage. Do I sound bitter?  Maybe just a little.  Well, now is the time for you to make it up to me. I want you to start giving me presents.  Let’s start with my brain: I want my brain back!

Before I entered 2020, my brain was superb! I played “Hand, Knee, Foot, Canasta” every Monday with a bunch of ladies, wrote three books, and hundreds of stories and essays.  Now my brain has turned to mush, and I’m sure it is due to stress.  This morning, I lined up behind a man in the grocery store who looked like someone I know very well, but since I’ve never had to pick him out of a lineup by recognizing his ass, I wasn’t quite sure if it was my friend or not since we were six-feet apart.  However, I prepared to shout, “Hi—Merry Christmas!” to his back through my two super-duper Israeli masks (I take no chances at the grocery store), but when I opened my mouth, I couldn’t remember his name.  WTF! White Santa Claus, I panicked!  I know this man very well—I know his wife even better, but all I could bring to the forefront of my brain was the first initial of his name: “B.”  Any minute I knew the guy would turn around, and I’d have to address him by name.  Was it Bob, Bill, Ben, Barry, Bryson, Bennett, Brandon, Beau, Blake…? As beads of sweat formed on my forehead and dripped beneath my four-ply masks, he turned around, recognized me, and I went for broke: “Hi, Brody—Merry Christmas, my friend!” My friend didn’t recoil in horror so I must have gotten his name correct.  He greeted me by name (clearly his brain is still intact), and we yelled our commiserations back and forth about how we are both soooooo over 2020.  Whew!

Cartoon used by permission: 246243_RGB_1290.jpg Christmas List by Rick McKee CagleCartoons com

DEAR WHITE SANTA:  The second thing I want for Christmas is for you to capture Donald Trump and take him back to the North Pole with you.  Put him on a strict diet of no cell phone, no social media, no fast food, no sex, no sycophants, no friends, no relatives, no money, no visitors, and no red caps.  In other words, put him in prison.  Keep him there until he repents for the 40,000-plus lies he’s uttered, asks forgiveness to all the women he’s sexually abused, and confesses to all the crimes he’s committed.  Please throw away the key.

Cartoon used by permission: 246467_RGB_1290.jpg My favorite gift by John Darkow Columbia Missourian

DEAR WHITE SANTA:  Another thing I could use for Christmas is for you to end 2020 the day after Christmas.  Just skip to 2021.  We’ve all had it with this year. This isn’t a deal breaker, but it sure would be nice.

Cartoon used by permission: 246623_RGB_1290 (1).jpg Peace on Earth by David Fitzsimmons The Arizona Star Tucson AZ

DEAR WHITE SANTA:  One more thing I’d like for Christmas: please lobotomize the MAGA people.  While doing so, please clean the wax out their ears and soften their hearts to hear the true message of Christmas.  (It wouldn’t hurt to glue their mouths shut!) I’m sure you’ve noticed that they have been very bad little boys and girls for the past four years and are still misbehaving to the point of trying to engage in a civil war.  Ain’t nobody got time for that, White Santa.  They don’t believe the pandemic is real, they won’t wear masks and social distance, they’re saying that they won’t take the vaccine for the COVID-19, and they think the election was stolen from he-whose-name-I-hope-will-never-be-spoken-after-2020.  I know you tend to have a soft spot for White people, but they gotta go, Dude!

Cartoon used by permission: 246111_RGB_1290 (1).jpg All I want for Christmas by Dave Whamond Canada PoliticalCartoons com

DEAR WHITE SANTA:  All I REALLY want for Christmas is to hug my kids, grandson, and sister.  But since I can’t, please bless our Zoom times together, and grant us much joy and laughter.  I’d like to put in my “ask” for next Christmas though:  May my family and I all be together in person on Christmas 2021. Amen!

Cartoon used by permission: 246784_RGB_1290.jpg Christmas Wish by Bill Day Tallahassee FL

DEAR WHITE SANTA:  All I want for Christmas is my two vaccines.  I’m following all the rules and doing all that is necessary to keep others safe as well as myself.  These vaccines are my ability to see family and to travel.  Maybe I’ll even come visit you, Chubby Dude—assuming you’ve received your shots.

Cartoon used by permission: 204440_RGB_1290.png HAPPY BIRTHDAY by Milt Priggee Kitsap Sun

DEAR WHITE SANTA:  What I really, really want for Christmas, I don’t think you’re capable of giving me. In fact, I think even with all your good intentions, you obfuscate the real meaning of Christmas.  The real hope of Christmas is not an obese White man (no offense) who sneaks into houses via chimneys, devours cookies and milk at EACH HOUSE (Seriously? you probably have diabetes something fierce), and uses reindeer-power instead of gas or electricity to get here and there.  No offense, Dude, but I want the true promise of what the birth of Jesus means to all mankind:  peace on the Earth, goodwill to all people, no more hunger, no more strife, love and grace to everyone, no more sadness, no more sorrow, and joy to all!  If you see Jesus in your travels, please let him know that his character and name have been hijacked in 2020 to mean something other than what Christmas should be all about, and we could use a refresher course.

Cartoon used by permission: 246732_RGB_1440.png Bedtime Prayer by Ed Wexler CagleCartoonscom

Eleanor Tomczyk is an author and a humorist who is an award-winning voice-over performer.  In 2011, she created the blog, “How the Hell Did I End Up Here” which features mostly satirical posts that have thousands of readers around the world—although she was recently banned in Pakistan (for real!).  Tomczyk’s three books were featured in a recent book festival: “Monsters’ Throwdown,” “Fleeing Oz,” and “The Fetus Chronicles—Podcasts to my Miseducated Self.”  Currently in her 70s and living life like it is freakin’ golden, she is a consummate storyteller and much sought-after motivational speaker.  If you don’t believe me, just ask her!

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eleanor Tomczyk and “How the Hell Did I End Up Here?” with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 
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Posted by on December 23, 2020 in Uncategorized

 

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ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS TRUMP IMPEACHED AND POETRY WRITTEN IN THE FORM OF “T’WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS” TO ADD TO THE MOCKERY HE SO RICHLY DESERVES

Cartoon used by permission: 232990 Twas the Night Before Impeachment by R.J. Matson CQ Roll Call

(A POLITICAL PARODY RIPOFF FROM “T’WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS”—ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1823.  My apologies to the poet Clement Clarke Moore.)

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the country,

               Not a news org was stirring, not even the Fox News punditry.

               The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,      

         In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

Cartoon used by permission: 219574 Santa Social Media by Nate Beeler The Columbus Dispatch OH

               Fractured Americans all nestled snug in their beds,

               While visions of Trump’s impeachment (or not) danc’d in their heads,

               Women in pink pussy hats, and White Trumpers in their MAGA caps,

               Had just settled their brains for a long winter’s nap.

Cartoon used by permission: 232948 Merry Christmas by Milt Prigge Oak Harbor WA

               When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

               I sprang from the bed to see what the fuck was the matter.

               Away to the window I flew like a flash,

               Opened it and looked out on snow-covered grass.

A red-suited fat man stood down there below,

               Stomping up and down as he yelled: “Ho, ho, ho”;

Then, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

               But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

Cartoon used by permission: 87030 Santa Claus And His Flying Reindeer COLOR by Bob Englehart PoliticalCartoons.com

With a spring in his step, so lively and quick,

               I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

               More agile than fairies, the reindeer they came,

               As Santa whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

“Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer, and Vixen,

               “On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Donner and Blitzen;

               “To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

               “Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

Cartoon used by permission: 87220 Prancers Out COLOR by Cameron Cardow The Ottawa Citizen

Like an arrow shot from a bow does fly,

               Santa, his sleigh, and bag did mount to the sky;

               So up to the house-top eight reindeer they flew,

               With the sleigh full of Xmas wishes—and St. Nicholas too:

               And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

               The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

               As I pulled in my head, and was turning around,

               Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound:

Cartoon used by permission: 157843 Santa and lighthouse beacon by Dave Granlund Politicalcartoons.com

               He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

               And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

               A bundle of gifts was flung on his back,

               And he muttered like a crazed prophet while he opened his pack:

               “15,413 lies in 1,055 days by my last Trump naughty tally,

               “Should I skip the White House entirely and fly on to North Philly?

               “And should I rent tons of U-hauls needed for all the coal,

               “To be placed in the stockings of Trumpers who’ve sold their souls?”

Cartoon used by permission: 232858 Santa naughty list by John Darkow Columbia Missourian

               The stump of a pipe he clinched tight in his teeth,

               As angry smoke encircled his head like a wreath.

               And he mumbled: “What to do, what to do, what to do?”

               Then burst into laughter, and said: “Shit, I don’t have a clue.”

               He gave off a huge sigh, that right jolly old elf,

               And I laughed when I heard him in spite of myself;

               He was just as flummoxed as the rest of us,

               Which made me think these days I needed someone higher to trust.

               Santa shouted several phrases as he went straight to his task,

               Filling all the stockings with word-gifts for which we’d asked:

“Trump Impeached!”

“Trump Removed!”

“Trump Destroyed!”

 “Trump Done in!”

               And laying his finger aside of his nose

               And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

Cartoon used by permission: 204470 Santa Hacked by Nate Beeler The Columbus Dispatch

               He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

               And away they all flew, like a North Korean missile:

               But I heard him shout in his booming rich voice: “DO NOT FEAR:

Concentrate on the TRUE meaning of Christmas, my Dears.”      

 “IN THE NAME OF JESUS—the true reason for the season

Trump WILL be impeached and with damn good reason”

(“Mainly ‘cause God don’t like ugly, accordin’ to Black Folks’ teasin’s.”)

Then I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight,

“MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL—AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!”

Cartoon used by permission: 219626 Christmas Day by Rick McKee The Augusta Chronicle GA

Eleanor Tomczyk is an author and a humorist who is an award-winning voice-over performer.  In 2011, she created the blog, “How the Hell Did I End Up Here” which features mostly satirical posts that have thousands of readers around the world—although she was recently banned in Pakistan (for real!).  Tomczyk’s three books were featured in a recent book festival:  “Monsters’ Throwdown,” “Fleeing Oz,” and “The Fetus Chronicles—Podcasts to my Miseducated Self.”  Currently in her 70s and living life like it is freakin’ golden, she is a consummate storyteller and much sought-after motivational speaker.  If you don’t believe me, just ask her!

Cartoon used by permission: 189369 Santas Likes by Jeff Koterba Omaha World Herald NE

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eleanor Tomczyk and “How the Hell Did I End Up Here?” with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 
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Posted by on December 18, 2019 in Uncategorized

 

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COSMIC HOPE

The Christmas Story

Do you know what I discovered last week?  Black women saved Alabama’s soul and, ultimately, America’s with the trouncing of Roy Moore—that racist, pervert, accused pedophile, and abomination to the name of Christianity who tried to railroad his way into the U.S. Senate.  You’re welcome, America!  Even though I don’t live in Alabama, I am a Black woman, an Evangelical (until they do something that makes me throw up in my mouth), and a person who is used to seeing miracles.   I know it seems hard to believe, but not every Christian in America has sold his or her soul to the Devil Trump and his minions—just enough of them have done so to make the rest of us occasionally wonder if there really is a God.  So there you have it:  God showed up in Alabama through Black women, therefore, thus did hope re-surge in me for the times ahead.  All is not lost, my Peeps.

Evangelicals an Moore in Hell Steve Sack The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Cartoon used by permission: Steve Sack, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

As I meditated on that unexpected burst of hope that came out of the Doug Jones win in Alabama, I felt this explosion of happiness and joy in my soul which got me to thinking about Christmas.  (Of course, I was decorating the Christmas tree at the time, sipping champagne, and singing “Jingle Bells” at the top of my lungs, so thinking about Christmas might not have been a huge stretch of the imagination.)  Contrary to what Fox News, paranoid White Evangelicals, and Trump would have you believe, there is no war on Christmas (trust me).  Nobody cares if you say Merry Christmas or Happy Everything, just so long as you say it with love and good intentions.  We’ve been bombarded with Christmas this and that here, there, and everywhere since the day before Halloween.  Nobody in America has a problem saying “Merry Christmas”—just a problem living it.  Christmas has been “lost in translation” and left on the cutting room floor in our country for a very long time.

Star Wars FB Dave Granlund Politicalcartoons com

Cartoon used by permission: Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com

This week I started asking any and everybody what Christmas meant to them.  Some said “family,” too many said “expensive,” others said “stress,” many said “fun,” a half dozen said “I’m Jewish, or Muslim, or atheist,”  others said, “abandoned,” a few said “Santa with lots of toys on his sleigh” (granted, they were under ten years old), and several said a “colossal pain in the ass—I’ll be glad when it is over!” I could have sworn that at least one person said “bah, humbug,” but I’m not sure. My grandson said Christmas meant “going to see Star Wars” when he comes to visit in a few days and “finding the new Xbox One LEGO Marvel Super Heroes under the tree on Christmas morning—please Mema, pleeaaaaassse!”  No one who I asked about the meaning of Christmas said what Christmas truly is: freedom from oppression, hope, joy, peace, love, comfort for the marginalized, and healing for the abused.

Xmas attitude Pat Bagley Salt Lake Tribune

Cartoon used by permission: Pat Bagley Salt Lake Tribune

I was slightly mortified by all the responses (including my grandson’s), if the truth be known.  I wondered: “How did Christmas get hi-jacked from the broken-hearted and the oppressed by the paranoid religious White people, inadequate Bible translations, and Wall Street.  Every year I try to figure out a way to translate the goodness of God into our holiday celebrations so my grandson can understand the true meaning of Christmas.  But every year something gets lost in translation in his young mind:  “So what’s a virgin? Are you trying to tell me, Jesus had two daddies AND a mommy?  What’s a frankincense and myrrh—is that like bubble bath and Chuck’s flea soap?”

In a world where nine-year-olds are committing suicide because of bullying, a child dies of hunger every seven seconds, and refugees and asylum-seekers have topped 65 million according to the UN, my grandson is going to need more from the Christmas story then gazing at a White baby Jesus in a manger once a year (Jesus was a Jew, so what’s up with the blond, blue-eyed savior?) and militantly saying “Merry Christmas” simply to prove a point. As a young Black man, he’s going to need lots of hope and courage to get through this life!  So I decided to rewrite the Christmas story in a way he would understand and leave the frankincense and myrrh to the Bible literalists.

Frankenstein

Courtesy of Christian Funny Pictures

 

THE CHRISTMAS STORY AS TOLD BY MEMA TO BABY BOY

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a very mean king by the name of Caesar Augustus ruled over all the world—or as much as he could capture under Roman rule.  Caesar Augustus thought that he was all that and a bag of chips—kind of like Donald Trump.  In fact, CA thought he was God—much like Donald Trump. Actually, he was awful and very cruel. I’m told that he once said:  “I could run over a bunch of Jews with my chariot in the middle of Jerusalem and my Roman supporters would not care.  I truly am king of the world.”  If you were a Roman citizen and rich, life was pretty awesome, but if you were a Jew, a non-Roman, or poor, life was the pits.  People cried all of the time because they were not free to live their lives as they wished and they didn’t have enough money and food to take care of their families. Many people were slaves to the Romans. It had been this way for a very, very long time.  So much so that it caught God’s attention.

GOD:  Gabriel, my angel, what is going on in the Earth I’ve created?  In all the years since I first breathed life into humans, I’ve never heard such a hue and cry. 

GABE:  Pardon me, my Lord, but I beg to differ.  We had an issue with that bad Pharaoh a while back, remember?  Had to raise up an outstanding guy named Moses, part the Red Sea, and escape with hundreds of people into the desert for about forty years.  It seems as if this time, it’s a Roman, not an Egyptian causing all the mayhem.

GOD:  Oh, yes!  I remember.  What is it with these humans?  There is always some nutty leader trying to impersonate me but with the character of the Devil.  You give them a little bit of talent, a few smarts, and it all goes to their heads.  They start lording it over each other, abusing people, treating each other like pond scum.  Oy vez mir!  I’m telling you Gabe, humans are getting on my every last nerve.  They better not make me come down there, or they will have Hell to pay.

GABE:  Eureka, my Lord!  Maybe that’s exactly what you should do.  You made the blueprint of why humans were created, and not one group of them has ever done the right thing by each other since their inception.  They think they know you, but they don’t have a clue as to your character.  What if you went down to Earth and hung out with them for a few years—showed them how to treat each other and the Earth you gave them?

Save us from ourselves Bob Englehart PoliticalCartoons com

Cartoon used by permission: Bob Englehart PoliticalCartoons com

GOD:  Hum… that’s not a bad idea. Except, I’m made up of all sorts of energy and matter.  If I interact with them face-to-face, they’ll implode.  It will be as if they flew to close to the sun.  That would defeat my purpose.

GABE:  Not if you cloaked a portion of yourself (your son) in the costume of a human.  Since there are three parts of you (Father, Son, and the feminine Holy Spirit), surely you could spare one part of you for a while.  I propose that you do a real sci-fi thing: slip into the Earth’s atmosphere as a fetus, get yourself born, hang out for as long as you can take it (maybe 33 years or so), show them how to live, and find some way to get ejected off the Earth and back into the heavens.   In fact, I’m thinking of a pretty powerful way you can exit stage left that would really complete the circle of sacrificial love that you have for them.  It would involve some nails and wood, and be rather painful in your human form.  But you could handle it. 

GOD:  I do love them so.  Can’t help myself.  When they’re good, they’re very good, but when they are bad… eiy, yi, yi!  Okay, find me a vessel through which to make my entrance.

GABE:  Already on it.  Her name’s Mary.  Just got engaged to a real stand up dude by the name of Joseph.  He’s mature enough to be your earthly father once he gets over the shock that his future wife is the temporary shuttle for the son of God.

GOD:  Cool.  We’ll need to alert a few of my peeps to let them know I’m in their midst since I’ll be a baby with no language skills.  Get the ad department to draft an announcement.  Send it out to the shepherds since they are usually the only ones hanging out at night under the stars.  They’ll spread the word. 

GABE:  Got it.  I think I’ll lead the angels in the proclamation myself, Sir.  How’s this:

 “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord…  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth, peace…” 

GOD:  Awesome!  Excellent Gabriel.  The hope just radiates from that proclamation makes me tingle all over.  Do you think the shepherds will believe it?

News of Jesus Birth Pat Bagley Salt Lake Tribune

Cartoon used by permission: Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune

GABE:  It’s worth a try.  If you don’t go down soon they will devour each other and there will be no humans left in a millennium or two.  They are not getting better—they’re getting worse.

GOD:  This is so exciting!  I have so much to show them about what it really means to be human.  Do they even realize that I created them in my likeness?  Do they understand that that likeness is the personification of love and joy?  I want to tell them that murder, hatred, theft, and cruelty are not why they were created.  They need to know that every soul has great worth—no matter who they are or where they were born.  I’ve got to teach them how to love one other, because my law is love, and my gospel is peace.  Come on Gabe, let’s pull together some genes, some DNA, and some chromosomes and get this baby entry pod cookin’!  People of Earth, hope is on its way!  From this day forward, all oppression shall cease!

Light of Christ Rick McKee The Augusta Chronicle

Cartoon used by permission: Rick McKee The Augusta Chronicle

 

ELEANOR’S SELAH (“AHA” MOMENT) ON THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

I am discovering that humans have always been in peril from other humans since the beginning of man. I am also discovering that my hope is not in man, in political parties, or even in myself.  My hope is that the true character of God will triumph in the Earth as well as in my own heart.  No evil lasts forever and no true love will ever die, and that is why Jesus came to Earth.  God’s love and hope is what Christmas means to me.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HANUKKAH, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, AND PEACE AND GOODWILL TO ALL!

Love, Eleanor

 

 

Hope Rick McKee The Augusta Chronicle

Cartoon used by permission: Rick McKee The Augusta Chronicle

 

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES ABOUT HOPE

 “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”—Desmond Tutu

 “The message of Jesus is summed up partly in the Sermon on the Mount, and partly when he begins his ministry and quotes the passage from Isaiah: ‘I have come to set free the prisoners and restore sight to the blind.’ And certainly, his mission is also to bring hope. It was to heal people, to befriend the outcast.”—Dan Wakefield

“For Jesus, there are no countries to be conquered, no ideologies to be imposed, no people to be dominated. There are only children, women and men to be loved.”—Henri Nouwen

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THE AUTHOR’S LATEST BOOK:  “The Fetus Chronicles:  Podcasts From my Miseducated Self” is on sale now at Amazon!

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR?  Check out her website at www.eleanortomczyk.com

WANT TO HEAR THE AUTHOR’S LATEST INTERVIEW?  Check out the podcast interview with Leo Brown: http://breadboxmedia.podbean.com/e/what-if-it-is-true-can-you-find-faith-in-darkness/

Christ is born Rick McKee The Augusta Chronicle

Cartoon used by permission: Rick McKee The Augusta Chronicle

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eleanor Tomczyk and “How the Hell Did I End Up Here?” with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 
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Posted by on December 19, 2017 in Uncategorized

 

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Santa Baby: Do You Feel What I Feel?

Do you know what I’ve discovered?  I have issues with Santa—have had them ever since I became cognizant of his existence.  In fact, I hate him!  As I was editing my first Christmas remembrance in my book, Monsters’ Throwdown (due to be released next week just in time for Christmas), it brought back painful memories of my attempts to get white Santa’s attention to stop by my poorer-than-dirt ghetto house and leave me a present or two as a poor-black-child.  I wrote letters, I said prayers, and I set out cookies and milk, but still no Santa (now that I am an adult, I have a strong suspicion that the rats who were as big as cats ate Santa’s snacks).  Once I started encountering Jews and discovered they got no visits from Santa either—whether they had been good as could be or not—I knew that fat white dude in the red suit made us all feel pretty much like pond scum by not showing up with presents for us.

Santa Sign David Fitzsimmons The Arizona Star

Used by permission:  David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star

As I got older, I realized Santa’s lack of shimmying down certain chimneys had more to do with economic inequality on my part and religious preference in the lives of my Jewish neighbors; although later I would discover that a few of my Jewish friends had Christmas trees along with their Menorahs, and Santa had made a deal with their parents to drop by on Christmas Eve just like he did at the homes of some of the Christians.  Talk about having one’s mind blown.

I pretty much forgot about the likes of Santa until I had my own children.  We moved to Israel when my older child was two months old and our younger child was born there.  I was having enough trouble helping them understand the difference between Israel’s “Kippi Ben Kippod” from “Rechov Sumsum (an Israeli coproduction of Sesame Street)” and America’s Big Bird from Sesame Street. Teaching my children about a Santa who didn’t bring the other neighborhood children presents wasn’t worth it.  Plus, it never occurred to me to teach them about the fantasy of Santa given my history with the dude, although our neighbors did help us find a fir tree from a kibbutz in Galilee so that we would feel more at home on Christmas Day since they knew it was a religious holiday for us.   By American standards, it was probably one of the ugliest trees one could possibly imagine—decorated with strings of popcorn, cranberries, and ringlets of colored paper.  But to us it was magnificent because it was provided by our Israeli neighbors who all came down to our apartment to “ooh and ah” at it.  All of my neighbors went out of their way to wish us “Merry Christmas” and we wished them Happy Chanukah at the appropriate time during all the years I lived there.  (Did I ever mention how my Israeli neighbors were the salt of the Earth and always made me feel very welcomed as an ex-pat?)

***

Then one year we came back to the States for Christmas vacation and my older child was sitting on my mother-in-law’s lap while her grandmother was reading my child a story about Santa Claus.  “Who is this?” asked my mother-in-law as she pointed to a picture of Santa.  The more my baby looked at the picture in total confusion, the angrier my mother-in-law became in demanding a definitive Santa recognition.   Finally, my three-year-old broke out into a heartbroken sob out of fear and confusion because she felt she was making her grandmother, whom she was seeing for the first time, very angry about her failure to identify a fat man in a red suit with an enormous beard.  As I ran to rescue my baby from this stupid emotional quagmire, my mother-in-law turned beet-red and went ballistic:  “I CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO FIND THE WORDS TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH THIS DISTURBS ME THAT YOU’VE NOT TAUGHT THIS CHILD ABOUT SANTA CLAUS!”  As I ran from the room cradling my frightened baby, I shouted:  “Ask her who Pippi Ben Kippod is—then maybe she’ll pass your stupid fantasy-man test.”  When we returned to my beloved Israel, I got an envelope from my mother-in-law containing only an Ann Lander’s column titled:  “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!”  (Did I ever tell you that I suspect my mother-in-law always hated me, and her words had the ability to make people feel like crap—no matter what the age?)

Santa Judgmental

My grandson (the child of the daughter that my now dead MIL terrorized about the recognition of Santa), went to see Santa the other day.  Apparently, it did not go well.  He refused to sit on the dude’s lap and pretty much lost it when he was coerced into coming within 20 feet of the fat man in the red suit.  Later that evening during our phone call, I asked him why he didn’t want to get next to Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas.  My five-year-old grandson astutely said:  “I didn’t like him—I didn’t like the way he made me feel—he made me feel all waggy and crunchy inside.  Anyway, Santa don’t bring me presents, Mommy, Daddy, Mama-Mama, Mema, and Grandpa brings me presents on Christmas!”  (Did I ever tell you that children have the ability to make us feel very clear-headed by their assessment of life, if we carefully listen?)  I’m sure my mother-in-law was turning over in her grave when she heard him say what he did about dear ol’ St. Nick.

As I was pondering whether the dislike of Santa could be passed down through a person’s DNA, I heard about three news stories concerning words:

Bill O’Reilly and Sarah Palin Uncovering War on Christmas—“Americans saying happy holiday tantamount to disowning Jesus—ram Merry Christmas down their throats in the name of Jesus!”

Pope Francis releases his “The Joy of the Gospel” and chastises the world “not to forsake the poor”—his words are challenging and riveting

Nelson Mandela dies at 95—his collective words and actions humble us and make us want to do better with our lives

Bill O’Reilly and Sarah Palin’s caustic words (they both have criticized our new Pope for being a socialist and a Marxist) made me feel all “waggy and crunchy” inside and made me want to cry, but the words by Pope Francis and the legacy of words left behind by Nelson Mandela made me feel so good, that all I could do was go out into the street and wish everyone I saw, “Happy Holidays, Season’s Greetings, and Merry Christmas with all my heart!”  When I saw the joy in the eyes of the people I had greeted, I knew that I had touched them with the true spirit of Christmas, and I felt really good, because I could tell I had made them feel good with my generosity of heart as well.

Pope Nativity Scene Steve Sack The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Used by permission:  Steve Sack, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

I am discovering that Maya Angelou was correct: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

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“I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white dude would come into my neighborhood after dark.”—Dick Gregory

“Believe in love. Believe in magic. Hell, believe in Santa Claus. Believe in others. Believe in yourself. Believe in your dreams. If you don’t, who will?”Jon Bon Jovi

“Our family was too strange and weird for even Santa Claus to come visit… Santa, who was jolly – but, let’s face it, he was also very judgmental.”—Julia Sweeney

“You know, in a way, ‘Dear Santa Claus’ is rather stuffy… Perhaps something a little more intimate would be better… Something just a shade more friendly….How about ‘Dear Fatty’?”Charles M. Schulz, The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 5: 1959-1960

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IN REMEMBRANCE OF MADIBA

Your heart of forgiveness, your words of grace, and your brotherly love will be greatly missed.  You made us all feel that we could live better lives if we tried.

Mandela Meme

RIP NELSON MANDELA

1918-2013

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eleanor Tomczyk and “How the Hell Did I End Up Here?” with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 
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Posted by on December 10, 2013 in Uncategorized

 

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