The Great Holiday Mix-Up

Posted on October 21, 2025October 19, 2025 by Dusty Roads

🎄🎃 The Great Holiday Mix-Up: Why Is Santa Side-Eyeing My Skeleton?

Deck the Halls… with Cobwebs?

It’s mid-October. The leaves are crisp, the pumpkins are plump, and your neighbor’s yard is a haunted masterpiece. You stroll into your local store for a bag of candy corn and—bam!—you’re greeted by a life-sized animatronic Santa doing the cha-cha next to a fog machine. Somewhere, a confused elf is tangled in fake spiderwebs wondering what went wrong.

Retail Time Travel: Now Featuring Peppermint in October

Retailers seem to operate in a parallel universe where time is a suggestion. Halloween? That was so August. Thanksgiving? Blink and you’ll miss it. Christmas? Oh honey, it’s been here since Labor Day. The moment the back-to-school aisle clears, it’s full throttle into tinsel territory. You came for a witch hat, but left with a snow globe and existential confusion.

Pumpkins with a Side of Peppermint Bark

There’s something deeply unsettling about sipping a pumpkin spice latte while browsing Christmas tree ornaments. It’s like your taste buds are caught in a custody battle between cinnamon and peppermint. One aisle screams “BOO!” while the next whispers “Ho ho ho.” It’s festive whiplash, and we’re all just trying to survive the sleigh ride.

The Real Reason? Retail Shenanigans

Let’s be honest: retailers know we’re suckers for sparkle. They’re banking on our inability to resist a glittery reindeer, even if it’s still 70 degrees and we’re wearing flip-flops. It’s not about logic—it’s about impulse buys and premature nostalgia. And maybe, just maybe, a little joy in the chaos.

So next time you see Santa lurking behind a zombie, take a deep breath and embrace the madness. After all, nothing says “holiday spirit” like a skeleton wearing a Santa hat and holding a candy cane.

It’s Christmas Eve

Posted on December 24, 2014December 24, 2014 by Dusty Roads

I just wrapped up my last minute errands so I’m all set for tomorrow. The house may not be perfect but it’s in better shape this year than ever before. The cats are both well and content. I have an awesome job with awesome people. I have much to be thankful for. In fact, I should be so happy that I’d be turning cartwheels if I could!

Then I turned on the TV. It was set to a news channel. What was the lead story? Another police shooting in MO., a white police officer and a minority teenager. It breaks my heart. This one was also fatal. These are mistakes that can’t be taken back. Once done its done. The family grieves but the officer will never be the same again either. I don’t know if it was a justified shooting or not and I, unlike many, will not judge because I wasn’t walking in either parties shoes.

Want to know what the follow up story was? A shooting in an Atlanta movie theater! At least in this one no police were involved and the injured parties will survive. But I can’t help but ask myself how we reached this point.

I am not a proponent of gun control. I don’t want to ban handguns and rifles, maybe assault weapons, but not the rest. I grew up around guns. I had my own 22 and a 30-06. Shooting was fun. My family all hunted and we ate the meat from our kill but pointing a gun at another human being…it would never have crossed our minds.

It’s Christmas Eve. This should be a happy time of hope and joy. Instead families are grieving and fingers are being pointed. Police are on guard and demonstrators are out of control. This is a sad state any time of year …but come on people! According to legend, even a war stopped for Christmas! (The Christmas truce was a series of widespread but unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front around Christmas 1914)