Tag: Christmas

MLLG

Dreaming of a Woke Christmas

George Noga

Dreaming of a Woke Christmas

Warning: candy canes resemble a shepherd’s crook

GEORGE NOGA

NOV 26, 2023

Santa Claus (please, no fat shaming) has been cancelled because he (preferred pronoun) is a phallocentric, cisgender, heteronormative, oppressive white male existing solely within an ageist authoritarian hierarchy. He is misogynistic and fraught with mansplaining, bropriation, toxic masculinity and white fragility.

Only unwoke children adhering to bourgeois capitalistic values and to moral absolutism (by not being naughty) receive gifts during the Celebration of Winter (formerly known as Christmas). Such children are brainwashed and seduced into a lifelong exploitative and metastasizing addiction to conspicuous consumption.

santa claus with red background
What? Me cancelled!

Santa’s bribes to gift-addled children are made by degendered, height-challenged, marginalized elves at the North Pole, a hostile post-colonial, non-union, right-to-work setting. The oppressed elves and reindeer must avoid stepping off the shrinking polar ice cap. At least ze (preferred plural pronoun for elves) no longer need to watch out for polar bears on passing ice floes due to their rapidly shrinking population.

Woke Christmas Shopping and Decorating

Scrooge-like robber barons such as Wal-Mart lure unsuspecting shoppers with elaborate decorations, holiday music and even (horrors) low prices. Some stores stoop so low as to provide ersatz Santas to lure, confuse and coax young children into an anti-proletarian lifestyle. If you should feel overwhelmed by microaggressions while shopping, seek a safe room with elevator music, teddy bears, images of frolickingly puppies, Play-Doh, warm milk and cookies. Should you need a rest room, make sure there is one available that comports with your gender identity at that moment.

Décor for the Celebration of Winter must exclude trees and anything intended to hang on trees. Also offensive are images of Santa, reindeer and anything red or green. Most offensive are nativity scenes. Avoid snowflakes and snow globes; however, making snow people is acceptable. Avoid holiday lights unless the power comes from solar or windmills as the energy wasted will lead to more fracking and pipelines. Be on high alert to avoid candy canes which resemble a shepherd’s crook – bummer.

Gift Guidelines for a Woke Christmas

Eschew toys made in China with slave labor; however, it is just fine to buy EVs that use child labor in Africa. Buy locally to avoid leaving a humongous carbon footprint. Take care to avoid cultural appropriation and non-intersectionality. Don’t use wrapping paper or cards as the environmental impact of paper products requires clear cutting of old growth forests and sacrificing spotted owls on the altar of unbridled consumerism. Moreover, disposing of all the waste requires countless new landfills. Lengthy after Christmas lines to return gifts attest to their utter depravity; obviously, people neither needed nor wanted the gifts. This is not gaslighting.

Avoid gender specific gifts; above all, this means NRA-inspired toy guns for the deplorable and irredeemably racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic and xenophobic boys in flyover land. They will cling to their new guns along with their religion. Avoid gifts from companies guilty of greenwashing.

Certain woke gifts are acceptable, such as birth control pills for birthing people on rape-infested college campuses. Personalized N-95 masks are a good choice. If all else fails, a Che Guevara sweatshirt always is sure to please your woke friends.

Vacations to socialist utopias such as North Korea, Gaza, and nearby Venezuela are popular with progressives; however, remind your recipient to bring zer (preferred pronoun) own toilet paper. If you can’t afford foreign travel, California, New York or Illinois are good substitutes. If you want to impress your favorite liberal, give zem (preferred pronoun) a U-Haul to Florida. For a really big splurge, you could provide private security to your blue state BFF in a sanctuary state where crime and looting are rampant, guns are banned, police have been defunded and cash bail eliminated.

Woke Christmas Dinner

Once all the unwanted gifts and materials are properly recycled with zero waste, avoid binge eating f/k/a Christmas dinner – an affront to those with food insecurities. Avoid grace or even a moment of silence as this is but a veiled attempt at prayer. Eat only organic, non-GMO, sustainable, local and fair-traded foods. Consider a vegan, PETA approved menu; tofu is a great alternative. Avoid turkey which is not free range and is loaded with growth hormones, mutagens, carcinogens and antibiotics. Bon Appetit.

TRIGGER WARNING: Merry Christmas to all our readers from MLLG!

© 2023 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com

MLLG

Was the Bethlehem Innkeeper Greedy? The Grinch Who Stole the First Christmas

George Noga

Higher prices result in more people getting more rooms than if prices were static.

Was the Bethlehem Innkeeper Greedy?

The Grinch Who Stole the First Christmas

By: George Noga – December 4, 2022

This year’s Christmas posting is about the innkeeper in whose manger Jesus was born. Last year (posting dated 12/5/21) was about Ebeneezer Scrooge; in 2020 (12/13/20) it was about Christmas Eve 1941 following Pearl Harbor. In 2019 (12/15/19) we featured America’s greatest Christmas story; in 2018 it was lessons from Christmas shopping (12/16/18). All these are on our website: www.mllg.us and worth a read. Note: The genesis for this post was an article forwarded by a reader, but the words are our own.

The story of the birth of Jesus lies at the heart of Christmas. One prevalent narrative is that Jesus was born in a manger because the innkeeper raised prices due to the surge of visitors for the census. The innkeeper often is portrayed as a greedy, and even evil, capitalist. But was the innkeeper truly greedy? The following is from Luke 2-7.

“Caesar Augustus decreed a census be taken and everyone go to their town

to register. . . So, Joseph and Mary, who was with child, went to Bethlehem.

While there, Mary gave birth in a manger as there was no room at the inn.”

The Grinch Who Stole the First Christmas

The Roman government forced people to travel long distances at their own expense and at great risk to register for the census – for the purpose of taxation. Caesar knew there would be great danger and hardship but was oblivious. Conducting a census, even 2,022 years ago, could have been accomplished with much less human misery.

Why was it necessary to require travel? Why couldn’t people register where they lived? The Romans had a vaunted postal system that could have facilitated the census without hardship. Clearly, this was an egregious abuse of power. The hubris of government was responsible for Jesus being born in a manger instead of in his own home. It is incandescently clear that the grinch who stole the first Christmas was government.

Was the Innkeeper Greedy or Benevolent?

If the innkeeper raised prices due to the surge of travelers registering for the census, would that have been greedy or even evil? This situation is no different than the price of hotel rooms during a hurricane or a big football game. Prices convey valuable economic information. By adjusting prices when demand surges, consumers benefit.

Higher prices incentivize travelers to stay with friends or relatives or to lodge farther away where prices are lower. Some families that otherwise might have taken two rooms may decide to make do with one room. Some people may decide to stay for fewer nights. Higher prices would sharply increase the supply of rooms as many local residents may decide to rent out rooms in their home, or even their entire home.

The price mechanism assures more people will get more rooms than if prices remained static. Scarce hotel (or inn) rooms are allocated in the most economically efficient manner. Those who value rooms the most get them. Far from being evil, higher prices enable the market to allocate scarce resources to the benefit of all consumers.

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The narrative of a greedy innkeeper is frequently the topic of Christmas sermons and school plays. It is economic ignorance and anti-capitalist drivel. The grinch who stole the first Christmas was government – and nothing has changed in 2,022 years.

BEST WISHES TO ALL OUR READERS FOR A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND FOR A NEW YEAR WITH MORE LIBERTY AND LESS GOVERNMENT!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us

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George Washington’s 1783 Christmas

George Noga
A Mount Vernon Christmas: November 17 to December 24, 1783
George Washington’s 1783 Christmas
By: George Noga – December 15, 2019
Reprising a MLLG Christmas tradition, we present America’s greatest Christmas story. Known only to few, it is deeply moving and uniquely American. The events that began November 17, 1783 and ended on Christmas Eve 1783 could not have happened anywhere but in America. It shaped our republic in ways still being felt today. It is an authentic, feel-good classic to be shared with children and grandchildren. Enjoy!

Word of Peace Treaty
On November 17, 1783 Washington received word the peace treaty had been signed. Now he could resign his commission and return to Mount Vernon, from which he had been away for eight long years – except for only a few days while enroute to Yorktown. Washington yearned to be home in Mount Vernon in time for Christmas but had less than six weeks, many duties to perform and many miles to travel.
   Farewell Orders to the Troops

Washington issued his Farewell Orders on November 17th, lauding his troops for their extreme hardship and urging them never to forget the extraordinary events to which they bore witness. He closed by announcing his retirement from service stating, “The curtain of separation will soon be drawn . . . and closed forever“. Instead of using such an opportunity to promote himself, he appeared above human ambition. King George III, upon hearing his remarks, called Washington “the greatest man of his age“.

New York and Fraunces Tavern

Washington arrived in New York November 21st; he thought it necessary to reoccupy New York but had to wait for the British to evacuate. He made sure Tories who secretly assisted the Americans were shielded from retribution. He also protected the British withdrawal to prevent untoward actions. Washington was greeted as a hero with cheering and enthusiastic crowds; nearly every home had a drawing or lithograph of him in the window. Receptions and dinners were held nightly in his honor.

On December 4th Washington hosted a farewell reception for his officers at Fraunces Tavern. He realized the inadequacy of any formal address and did not trust his emotions to read one. When all glasses were filled, Washington offered a toast, “With a heart filled with love and gratitude, I now take my leave of you. I most devoutly wish your later days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.” Following the toast, blinded by tears and his voice faltering, Washington continued, “I cannot come to each of you but shall be obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand.” Each officer came forward suffused with tears and unable to utter a single intelligible word.

Philadelphia and Enroute to Annapolis

From December 5-18 Washington’s journey took him to Philadelphia where he spent several days. Next was Annapolis, where Congress was sitting. At every stop and all along his route for his entire journey, citizens gathered to pay tribute. Always courteous, the general accepted every proffered hand and returned every greeting.

America never before had and never again will experience such an emotional outpouring for one man. Every citizen understood that he conducted them through a long and bloody war that achieved independence for their country. All knew viscerally that there never would be another such moment or another such man.

Annapolis and Returning His Commission

Washington arrived in Annapolis, then the capital and seat of Congress, on December 19th. From December 20-22 he was feted endlessly at lavish dinners and balls, always preceded with 13 toasts followed by 13 cannon shots. On December 23rd there was a special session of Congress to honor Washington and to accept his resignation. Attendance overflowed the facilities with people everywhere.

He closed his address stating, “I retire from the great theatre of action and here offer my commission and take my leave of all employments of public life.” Then he withdrew from his coat pocket the parchment given him in 1775 that was his appointment as Commander-in-Chief and ceremoniously returned it. Washington’s Annapolis speech is considered the most significant ever delivered in civil society.

Christmas in Mount Vernon

Immediately after his speech, Washington set out for Mount Vernon. It was so late on December 23rd and the days so short, he got only as far as Bladensburg, Maryland before retiring for the night. The next morning, Christmas Eve, he rode to the Potomac River, crossed via ferry to Alexandria and rode the final miles. It already was dark but about a mile away from Mount Vernon he could see its many green-shuttered windows – now all ablaze with candles. It was, after all, Christmas Eve.

We are taking a holiday break; the next posting will be January 19, 2020.
Best wishes to our readers for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !
More Liberty Less Government  –  mllg@mllg.us  –  www.mllg.us

George Washington’s Mount Vernon Christmas

George Noga
George Washington’s Mount Vernon Christmas is a holiday tradition at MLLG. Enjoy!
George Washington’s Mount Vernon Christmas
By: George Noga – December 18, 2016
      We are reprising America’s greatest Christmas story; it is 100% true but known only to few; it is deeply moving and uniquely American. The events that ended on Christmas Eve 1783 could not have happened anywhere but America. It shaped our republic in ways being felt today. It is an authentic, feel-good classic to be shared with children and grandchildren.
Note: This post is much longer than normal but I believe you will agree that it is well worth it.

Christmas – New Year’s Eve 1776

     Washington wrote, “The reflection upon my situation and that of this army produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few know the predicament we are in.” Washington was desperate; 1776 had been the darkest year in American history. He had endured a succession of military disasters. The morale of his remaining army, starving and freezing, was rock-bottom; hundreds desert during the night. He is down to only 2,400 troops.
     On the New Year’s Eve march to Trenton, many have no shoes and wrap their feet in burlap during the all night march, leaving behind a crimson trail of blood in the new fallen snow as a sudden and fierce northeast storm engulfs his Continentals. The fate of the American Revolution has come down to this. Washington is down to one last desperate throw of the dice. And although Washington leads one of the most successful surprise attacks in history, it only buys time. Ahead is the desperate winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge. Indeed, every winter and Christmas until 1783 was the same story of hunger, cold and privation.

Quelling a Revolt; Word of Peace Treaty

       Just before receiving word of the peace treaty in 1783, Washington was confronted with a rebellion. He called a meeting of his officers, gave a short speech and then reached for a letter from Congress in his pocket to read aloud. He gazed upon it and fumbled with it without speaking. He then took a pair of reading glasses from his pocket which none had seen him wear before. He said, “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.” This moved everyone to tears as they realized the sacrifices Washington had made; the rebellion died instantly.

       On November 17, 1783 Washington received word that the peace treaty had been signed ending the war. Only then could he resign his commission and return home to Mount Vernon, from which he had been away for eight long years – except for only a few days while enroute to Yorktown. Upon learning of the treaty, Washington yearned to be home in Mount Vernon in time for Christmas but he had less than six weeks, many duties to perform and many miles to travel. What follows is the story of Washington’s incredible 38-day Christmas journey.

A Mount Vernon Christmas: November 17 to December 24, 1783

   Farewell Orders to the Troops

     On November 17th Washington issued his “Farewell Orders” lauding his troops for their extreme hardship and urging them never to forget the extraordinary events to which they bore witness. He closed by announcing his retirement from service stating, “The curtain of separation will soon be drawn . . . and closed forever” meaning for all future offices. Instead of using such an opportunity to promote himself, he appeared above all human ambition. When his remarks reached King George III, he called Washington “the greatest man of his age”.

New York and Fraunces Tavern

      Washington left camp and arrived in New York November 21st; he thought it necessary to reoccupy New York but he had to wait for the British to evacuate. While there he made sure Tories who had secretly assisted the American cause were shielded from retribution. He also protected the British withdrawal to prevent untoward actions. Everywhere Washington was greeted as a hero with cheering and enthusiastic crowds; nearly every home had a drawing or lithograph of him in the window. Receptions and dinners were held nightly in his honor.
     On December 4th Washington hosted a farewell reception for his officers at Fraunces Tavern. He realized the inadequacy of any formal address and did not trust his emotions to read one. When all the glasses were filled, Washington offered a toast, “With a heart filled with love and gratitude, I now take my leave of you. I most devoutly wish your later days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.” Following the toast, blinded by tears and his voice faltering, Washington continued, “I cannot come to each of you but shall be obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand.” Each officer came forward suffused with tears and unable to utter a single intelligible word.

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Enroute to Annapolis

     From December 5-18 Washington’s journey took him to Philadelphia where he spent several days and then onward, via Wilmington, toward Annapolis, where Congress was then sitting. At every stop and all along his route throughout his entire journey citizens gathered to pay tribute. Always courteous, the general accepted every proffered hand and returned every greeting. America never before had and never again will experience such an emotional outpouring for one man. Every citizen understood that he conducted them through a long and bloody war that achieved glory and independence for their country. All knew viscerally that there never would be another such moment or another such man.

Annapolis and Returning His Commission

      Washington arrived in Annapolis, then the capital and seat of Congress, December 19th. From December 20-22 he was feted endlessly at lavish dinners and balls, always preceded with 13 toasts followed by 13 cannon shots. On December 23rd there was a special session of Congress to honor Washington and to accept his resignation. Attendance overflowed the facilities with people everywhere. He closed his address by stating, “I retire from the great theatre of action and  . . . here offer my commission and take my leave of all employments of public life.” Then he withdrew from his coat pocket the parchment given to him in 1775 that was his appointment as Commander-in-Chief and ceremoniously returned it. Some consider Washington’s Annapolis speech the most significant address ever delivered in civil history.

Christmas in Mount Vernon

       Immediately after his speech, Washington set out for Mount Vernon, still hoping to arrive in time for Christmas. It was so late on the 23rd and the days so short, he got only as far as Bladensburgh, Maryland before retiring for the night. The next morning, Christmas Eve, he rode to the Potomac River, crossed via ferry to Alexandria and rode the final miles. It already was dark when he approached Mount Vernon. About a mile away he could see its many green-shuttered windows – now all ablaze with candles; it was, after all, Christmas Eve.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Much material is from “General Washington’s Christmas Farewell – A Mount Vernon Homecoming 1783 ” by Stanley Weintraub. The 174 page book is readily available on Amazon for $16.95 new or for under $5.00 used. If you enjoyed reading this post, I guarantee that you will love the book even more!
We are taking a holiday break; the next posting will be in January 2017.

A Politically Correct Christmas

George Noga
Trigger Warning! Despite our very best effort to be 100% politically correct,
this post uses the term “Christmas” and may contain other microaggressions. 
A Politically Correct Christmas
By: George Noga – December 11, 2016

      Begin by recognizing Santa Claus as a phallocentric, atherosclerotic white male existing within an ageist, authoritarian hierarchy. Only children adhering to bourgeois capitalistic values and to moral absolutism (by agreeing not to be naughty) receive gifts during the Celebration of Winter (formerly Christmas). Such children are brainwashed and seduced into an exploitative, metastasizing consumerism. Gifts are thinly-disguised payola intended to create lifelong addiction to over consumption.

Santa’s bribes to gift-addled children are made by degendered, height-challenged, differently-abled elves at the North Pole, a post-colonial, non-union, right-to-work setting. Regrettably, Obamacare has forced Santa to cap total elf employment at 49 and to limit their work week to 29 hours. The elves and reindeer must constantly avoid stepping off the shrinking polar ice cap and dodge polar bears on passing ice floes.

The tectonic pressure to exchange gifts leads to psychoses not covered by atavistic health insurance plans of rapacious insurance companies. Scrooge-like robber barons, like Wal-Mart, lure unsuspecting shoppers with elaborate decorations, holiday music and even (horrors) low prices. Avoid any stores that stoop so low as to provide ersatz Santas to confuse, coax and cajole young children into an anti-proletarian lifestyle.

PC decor for the Celebration of Winter excludes Christmas-centric trees and any ornaments designed to hang on trees. Also offensive are images of Santa, reindeer, and anything (even napkins) red or green. Even more offensive are nativity scenes and candy canes, the shape of which represents a shepherd’s crook. Snowflakes, snow globes and snowpeople are acceptable; after all, it is a Celebration of Winter. Avoid holiday lights; the energy wasted inexorably leads to more evil fracking and pipelines.

Eschew toys made in China with slave labor, subsidies and currency manipulation, then shipped around the world leaving a humongous carbon footprint. Don’t use wrapping paper or send cards as the environmental impact requires clear cutting of old growth trees and sacrificing spotted owls on the altar of consumerism; moreover, disposing of all the waste requires countless new landfills. After Christmas lines to return gifts attest to the depravity; obviously, people neither needed nor wanted gifts.

Avoid gender specific gifts, the most egregious being NRA-inspired toy guns for the deplorable and irredeemably racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic boys in flyover land. They will cling to their new guns along with their religion. Certain gifts are acceptable like PCC pills distributed to snowflakes on rape-infested campuses, preferably with funds coerced from the Little Sisters of the Poor. Vacations to socialist havens like Venezuela and North Korea are popular with progressives.

Once all unwanted gifts and waste materials are recycled, avoid binge eating a/k/a Christmas dinner, a microaggression to those with food insecurities. Before eating, skip grace or even a moment of silence, which is but a veiled attempt at prayer. Select organic, non-GMO, sustainable, local and fair-traded foods; tofu is a good choice. Avoid turkey loaded with growth hormones, mutagens, carcinogens and antibiotics, although turkey is preferable to a Chick-fil-A washed down by a 24-ounce Big Gulp.

Ensure that a variety of rest rooms is available for GLBTQ+ who may use any one or more he/she/it/they wish depending on his/her/its/their gender self identity at that moment. For anyone overwhelmed, be sure to provide a safe room with elevator music, teddy bears, videos of frolicking puppies, Play-Doh and warm milk and cookies.

Next up on December 18th is our traditional Christmas posting. 

George Washington: A Mount Vernon Christmas

George Noga
By: George Noga – December 15, 2013
  
       Again this Christmas I am reprising America’s greatest Christmas story; yet, it is one known only to a very few. It is deeply moving and uniquely American. It reveals much of both the man and the fledgling nation. What transpired between late November and Christmas Eve 1783 could not have happened anywhere but America. It shaped our republic in ways still being felt today and cemented George Washington as the greatest man of his era. In an age filled with hollow hyperbole, A Mount Vernon Christmas is an authentic feel-good American classic that should be shared with the entire family.

Prequel: December 25, 1776 – Crossing the Delaware

      On Christmas Day 1776 Washington was desperate; that year had been the darkest in American history. He had just endured a succession of military disasters. The morale of his remaining army, starving and freezing, was low; hundreds desert during the night. He is down to 2,400 troops. Many (at least one-third) have no shoes and wrap their feet in burlap during the all night march, leaving behind a crimson trail of blood in the new fallen snow as a sudden and fierce northeast storm engulfs his Continentals. It all has come to this; facing impossible odds both Washington and the American revolution is down to one last desperate throw of the dice.
“The reflection upon my situation and that of this army produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few people know the predicament we are in.”   (George Washington 1776)
      Although Washington leads one of the most successful surprise attacks in history, it only buys time. Still to come is the desperate winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge. Indeed, every winter and Christmas until 1783 was to be the same story of hunger, cold and privation. In late November of that year (1783) Washington received word that the peace treaty ending the war had been signed. Only then could he resign his commission and return home to Mount Vernon.

A Mt. Vernon Christmas: November 17 to December 24, 1783

     As soon as Washington learned of the treaty, he wanted very much to return home to Mount Vernon for Christmas. Except for a few days enroute to Yorktown, he had been away for about eight years. However, he had less than six weeks, many duties to perform and many miles to travel. This is the story of his incredible 38 day Christmas journey.
  

Quelling Revolt of Officers

     Just before learning of the peace treaty, Washington dealt with a rebellion while quartered in Newburgh, New York. Washington called a meeting, gave a short speech and then reached for a letter from Congress in his pocket to read aloud. He gazed upon it and fumbled with it without speaking. He then took a pair of reading glasses from his pocket which none had seen him wear. He said, “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.” This moved everyone to tears as they realized the sacrifices Washington had made; the rebellion died instantly.

Farewell Orders to the Troops

      On November 17th Washington issued his “Farewell Orders”. He lauded his troops for their extreme hardship and urged them never to forget the extraordinary events to which they bore witness. He closed by announcing his retirement from service stating, “The curtain of separation will soon be drawn . . . and closed forever” meaning for all future offices. Instead of using such an opportunity to promote himself, he appeared above all human ambition. When his remarks reached King George III, he called Washington “the greatest man of his age“.

New York and Fraunces Tavern

      Washington, arriving in New York from Newburgh on November 21st, believed it necessary to reoccupy New York but had to wait for the British to evacuate. While there he made sure Tories who had secretly assisted the American cause were shielded from retribution. He also protected the British withdrawal to prevent untoward actions. Everywhere Washington was greeted as a hero with cheering and enthusiastic crowds; nearly every home had a drawing or lithograph of him in the window. Receptions and dinners were held nightly in his honor.
      On December 4 Washington hosted a farewell reception for his officers at Fraunces Tavern. He realized the inadequacy of any formal address and did not trust his emotions to read one. When all the glasses were filled, Washington offered a toast, “With a heart filled with love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I  most devoutly wish your later days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.” Following the toast, blinded by tears and voice faltering, Washington continued, “I cannot come to each of you but shall be obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand.” Each officer came forward suffused with tears and unable to utter an intelligible word.

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Enroute to Annapolis

       From December 5-18 Washington’s journey took him to Philadelphia where he spent several days and then onward, via Wilmington, toward Annapolis, where Congress was sitting. At every stop and all along his route (throughout his entire journey) citizens gathered to pay tribute. Always courteous, the general accepted every proffered hand and returned every greeting. America never before had and never again will experience such an emotional outpouring for one man. Every citizen understood he conducted them through a long and bloody war that achieved glory and independence for their country. All knew viscerally there never again would be such a moment or such a man.

Annapolis and Returning His Commission

      Washington arrived in Annapolis, then the Capitol and seat of Congress, on December 19. From  December 20-22 he was feted endlessly at lavish dinners and balls, always preceded with 13 toasts followed by 13 cannon shots. On December 23 there was a special session of Congress to honor Washington and to accept his resignation. Attendance overflowed the facilities with people everywhere. He closed his address by stating, “I retire from the great theatre of action and . . . here offer my commission and take my leave of all the employments of public life.” Then he withdrew from his coat pocket the parchment given to him in 1775 that was his appointment as Commander-in-Chief and ceremoniously returned it. Some consider it the most significant address ever delivered in civil society.

Christmas in Mount Vernon

Immediately after returning his commission, Washington set out for Mount Vernon, still hoping to arrive in time for Christmas. It was so late on the 23rd and the days so short, he got only as far as Bladensburgh, Maryland before retiring. The next morning, Christmas Eve, he rode to the Potomac River, crossed with a ferry to Alexandria and rode the final miles. It already was dark when he approached Mount Vernon. About a mile away he could see its many green-shuttered windows – now all ablaze with candles; it was, after all, Christmas Eve.
In Vernon’s groves you shun the throne,
Admired by kings, but seen by none.

Post Script

      Much of the material is from “General Washington’s Christmas Farewell – A Mount Vernon Homecoming 1783” by Stanley Weintraub. The 174 page  book is readily available. As hard as I tried, this summary is woefully inadequate to describe the events of November-December  1783 and the true character of George Washington. I beseech anyone with young children or grandchildren to read it to them in installments over the holidays. There is no better gift you can bestow than to expose young minds to the extraordinary character of George Washington.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our readers from the
 MLLG Foundation; our next posting will be in early to mid January.