The views expressed in this feature are those of the author and not necessarily those of NightMoves and AAN.

I don’t know about you, but to me, this year of 2021 seems to have just flown by. Here it is mid October already, summer is over, baseball is just about over, football takes center stage, hockey is beginning and……….everything Christmas is already on display in the stores! In some places Christmas stuff was already out right after the Labor Day weekend!

It has been another hell hole of a year for most with rising prices on everything, food, clothes, home appliances, gas for the car, you name it the prices have soared. We are still in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, although the numbers continue to steadily go down and have been reaching the lowest levels in well over a year. However, the national media is making sure to keep that fear factor alive despite all the positive signs. Then we have all the political infighting and ridiculousness going on in D.C. while people are scrambling to make it through each day but our elected officials don’t seem to care. They are more concerned about still going after Trump, helping illegals and refugees to a better life than their own people. Then you have the mask and vaccine mandates with threats of loss of jobs, etc. if you refuse to get vaccinated put into effect in some states and businesses. Last time I looked this was still the U.S. of A. not Nazi Germany. It has been a crazy year with so many mixed signals that people just don’t know who, or what, to believe anymore and that is a very sad state of affairs.

Now here it is mid October and the 2021 holiday season is upon us and it should be interesting to say the least. First of all, a lot of what many of us were going to shop for  regarding Christmas gifts may find number one, a huge shortage of items thanks to all the shipping problems and those containers sitting out at sea. So a lot of what we were hoping for may not be in stores. Then of course, the follow up will be a huge jump in prices making Christmas shopping a very expensive proposition this year. But prior to Christmas we have two other holidays that will create some havoc, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Once again it will come down to availability and price. Just doing a random check and seeing what costumes for Halloween are running this year is crazy. Then there is the cost of all that candy to give away and that has gone way up. Now we come to Thanksgiving and putting out the annual family spread for Thanksgiving is going to be a very expensive proposition. Chances are you could probably go out to  a restaurant for a Thanksgiving meal for a lot less. It is not going to be a fun time.

Then to top it all off there are the continuing mixed signals from the so called “medical experts”. They still don’t want to see large groups gather for the holidays, keep it small, keep the social distance, blah, blah, blah. Then you have the various places with the no proof of vaccine then you cannot enter their business, blah, blah, blah. Have these clowns taken a look at football stadiums every week around the country? Talk about contradiction, control, fear and being played it is all happening right before our eyes. I don’t like what is happening to our country, our freedoms, our rights and our future. But I will say one thing, the last two holiday seasons have been screwed up by all this political play but for me, not this year. I have every intention of enjoying the holidays to the max and no one in Washington D.C. is going to tell me how to live and enjoy my life for whatever time I have left on this earth. Biden and all the rest of the phonies can take their mandates and ways to keep dividing and controlling the people and shove them as far up their rear as they can.

Now, bring on the holidays and let’s have a great time enjoying them the way we used to with family, friends, parties, good times and the rest of 2021 the very best we can. Happy holidays folks!

Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves Magazine and AAN