Did you realize that yesterday, Dec. 14, was the 50th anniversary of the last moonwalk? No, I’m not talking about Michael Jackson’s optical illusion, but rather the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 when Eugene Cernan along with Harrison Schmitt, bounced around on the lunar surface. Heck, they not only walked but also kicked up some lunar dust driving a goofy little car around craters and such.

But wouldn’t you know it, the tinfoil hat crowd has proclaimed it as their Moon Landing Hoax Day, which in this day and age is not unbelievable. Not that any of the six moon landings were hoaxes, but that some people clearly have so much time on their hands they come up with stuff like that. Moreover, from what I’ve been seeing, what’s in vogue now is to doubt anything you hear, read or see with your own eyes.

While we’re on the subject, the word of the year 2022, according to Merriam-Webster, is gaslighting. While kind of in the vein of cognitive dissonance, gaslighting comes from the 1944 movie “Gaslight,” where Charles Boyer attempts to make his wife, Ingrid Bergman, believe she is slowly going insane. Every night he sneaks up to the attic, and his nefarious activities up there cause the home’s gas lights to dim downstairs. She mentions it to him, but he manipulates her into thinking there’s nothing wrong with the lights, and she ends up distrusting her own senses.

Frankly, I’m not so sure that 2022 has not just been a figment of my imagination. Sheesh.

Now that I’ve got that out of my system, I’ve been told that the once fashionable black Christmas tree is still “a thing.” Artificial, of course, although there is such a thing as black spruce, which in actuality is green. I suppose you could spray paint it. If you don’t cotton to black, never fear, you can also get one in pink, blue, red, purple or orange, but I’m waiting for somebody to come out with a plaid or a paisley one.

My lord, think of it … we’ve gotten to the point where a tree can be color-coordinated with your carpet and drapes.

Really, though, that’s nothing new. They’ve been making artificial trees since the 1800s, but I have to admit I’ve never used one. It was always a thrill in my younger years to go out to whatever nearby forest permitted such things and cut down a live tree. It’d be hanging out the back of the trunk at 60 miles per hour and by the time we got it home, it resembled something like Charlie Brown would pick out. Light on foliage but heavy on charm.

Holiday trends and fads come and go, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live a couple of hundred years ago and be celebrating Christmas without all the holiday hoopla that we have today. I mean before malls and advertising and marketing focus groups and blue light specials.

I suspect back then the holiday was celebrated in a simpler fashion. Maybe not as simple as in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” where people were expected to go to work on December 25, but still with a lot less hubbub and desperate shopping and clogged parking lots.

In all actuality, I read that Dickens’ story was a big influence on people to start observing Christmas with family gatherings, generosity, seasonal food like fruit cake and mince pies, and various libations (pumpkin spice IPAs came much later). If that’s not enough, Dickens is also attributed with popularizing the expression “Merry Christmas.”

And then there’s that Scrooge thing.

Although there are usually a few humbugs here and there, they’ll be overshadowed by the Mariachi Christmas over at Macey Center this Friday night. It’s a spectacular show.

In the meantime, go ahead and wallow in the spirit of the season. Sing a few Christmas carols, toss a few bucks in the Salvation Army bucket, eat a bunch of empanadas, biscochitos and chile rellenos, and toast each other with a glass of eggnog.

Oh, if I may, here’s an eggnog concoction that can’t be beaten; what you might call the quintessential All-American eggnog, courtesy of our first President:

“One quart cream, one quart milk, one dozen tablespoons sugar, one pint brandy, ½ pint rye whiskey, ½ pint Jamaica rum, ¼ pint sherry – mix liquor first, then separate yolks and whites of 12 eggs, add sugar to beaten yolks, mix well. Add milk and cream, slowly beating. Beat whites of eggs until stiff and fold slowly into mixture. Let set in cool place for several days. Taste frequently.”

That’s directly from the pen of George Washington. Like I always say, nothing can take the place of good, sound judgment … and that includes a little rum in your eggnog.

John Larson, El Defensor Chieftain