There's Always That One Person Who…

Something a little different

Hello, Party People!

I love spooky season. I enjoy thrills, chills, and stomach-churning suspense. I even wrote a whole book of more than 500 horror haiku. (You can also buy the book directly from me through the Weirdo Poetry Shop.)

However, I grew up with two parents who did not love Halloween. Most of the cool stuff like skulls, spiders, and The Simpsons was banned in our house.

What Mom loved was Christmas, and she went all out.

In fact, the day you might know as Black Friday was the First Day of Christmas in our house. My mom would stay up all night and decorate the entire house like a winter wonderland, even in Northern California. Each year, she did something new and wonderful.

If you’ve ever seen the movie Elf, starring Will Ferrell, it was kind of like the scene where Buddy decorates the department store.

Growing up, we had two Christmas mornings to look forward to each year.

The other part of Christmas Mom loved was the music. Dad had banned Christmas music from being played before the day after Thanksgiving, and it was only allowed until New Year’s Eve. When Dad was at work, Mom would often put on Christmas records and dance and sing around the house, even in the middle of April.

So, as much as I love Halloween and October, I love Christmastime even more. Almost six years ago, two months before I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, Mom died—on Christmas Day, no less.

For my entire adult life, but especially since Mom died, I’ve turned to Christmas music when I feel lost, sad, or stuck. It always makes me feel better.

That means I do not limit my Christmas music intake to the post-Thanksgiving part of the year. A few years ago, when I was first experimenting with graphic storytelling, I would make graphs on notecards like this one:

Later on, I also made this haiku comic. I don’t think I’ve ever shared it before.

I’ve already started listening to Christmas music in the car because I miss Mom. All I want is to talk to her or even just hear her sing Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree with Brenda Lee on in the background.

The thing about listening to all that music is that it changes my mood and gives me ideas.

It was one of these ideas that motivated me to make this post in the first place. I intended to share this silly comic I made, one which I don’t know what else to do with. I realized I wanted to show it to Mom, so I’m posting it here in this newsletter, and I’m choosing to believe that it will go out to her, too.

Everything else is just to give you some context and to give me an excuse to talk about Mom so I can have a good cry and ease this knot in my throat.

Don’t worry if you don’t get it—it’s not really for you anyway. Mom would’ve laughed (even if she didn’t get it.)

Happy Halloween and Merry Christmas, Mom!

Be the weird you want to see in the world!

Cheers,

Jason