It’s that time of year when all the gift-giving holidays occur. Hanukah, Christmas, Festivus, Kwanza (although I really have my doubts this thing has legs), Festivus (which I bet has more observants than Kwanza), Boxing Day for the limeys and their fellow travelers, and a couple others that I’m forgetting.

Regardless, whatever holiday occurs this month that matters to you…have a happy one of it. Thank you to all who sent cards or gifts these last couple weeks…its always fun to find something in the mailbox.

Me, I’m going out to dinner with some cow orkers this evening, and then I plan on sleeping late tomorrow and getting in some range time.

Next week will have the obligatory end of year post, which I am working on now. 2025 is absolutely guaranteed to be more interesting than 2024. Should be highly entertaining. Say what you will about the apocalypse, its guaranteed not to be boring.

I received a couple cards and gifts in the mail from readers last week. I’d like to thank everyone who sent ( or is sending) holiday greetings/gifts. Gift-giving is always cool, but I’d rather you use your resources to enhance your own resilience rather than sending some cool geegaw to some faceless dude you read about on the internet.

However…if you’ve already got the whole resilience angle all taken care of, well, by all means, send the Zero some love.

But…cards or not, gifts or not, I still think youre all awesome.

ETA: Some trivia – For the shot where Hans Gruber falls from the top of the building, Alan Rickman was really dropped 40-feet onto an airbag with a blue-screen cover; the background was later edited in. A stuntman held Rickman up with a rope. Mirroring Rickman’s line repeated twice in the movie, the stunt crew was to count to 3 before releasing, but to get a genuine reaction from Rickman, the stunt man released the rope on the count of two, not three. Rickman later said during a Q&A that the stunt was purposely done on his last day on set.

Or, as others call it, ‘Thanksgiving’.

Personally, I don’t restrict my gratitude to one day of the year. I’m always aware of what I do and don’t have and who is or is not responsible for that.

This year, I’m thankful the election didn’t go to Harris. I’m also thankful that the fourth quarter of the year was pretty good to me market-wise. And, of course, I am thankful to me for all the cool and good stuff I’ve done for me this year. Thanks me!

The problem, if you want to call it that, with being aware of what you do and do not have is that it makes you very sensitive to things that threaten that status quo. I can sit in front of a giant plate of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, pie, and ice cream, and while I’ll enjoy the heck out of it I’ll also be very aware that just because I have it now doesn’t guarantee I’ll have it next year. But..I’d bet folding money that the odds of me having an abundant holiday next year are a darn sight better than a lot of folks. Again…thanks me!

And lets hope next years Thanksgiving doesn’t go like this:

Unfortunately, I am traveling for the holiday….so no shooty goodness for me.

But…I hope you get out there and reaffirm (and re-zero) your dedication to the cause.

That stupid annual quandry I always get: is it Patriot’s, Patriots, or Patriots’?

Regardless, today is the day the more historically orthodox of us observe the start of the American Revolution and ponder it’s implications.

Heinlein said that “the price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, any time and with utter recklessness.” How do you do that? As a wise man once said, “with heart, faith, and skill.” But it also helps to have a good rifle, the skill to wield it effectively, and the mindset necessary to know when.

I’m trapped in an office today, so no range time today. But, definitely this weekend.

Remember, guys – this nation was founded by a buncha guys with guns who didn’t like paying taxes and being pushed around by .gov. It’s in your national DNA to dig in your heels and say BFYTW. Accept it, embrace it, live it.

Whatever your particular flavor of year-end holiday is, have a happy.

Go ahead, Kris…you earned it.

After-action gift reports are encouraged.

Real life has been fairly exhausting as of late and it means that at the end of the day, when its a choice between blog posting or climbing into bed…well…bed is often the winner.

I normally don’t go too far out of my way for Halloween but I admire people who do. I as in CostCo today and this effort just made my day:

But what really makes it baller…what really sells it….is he went and had a CostCo badge made up that says WASHINGTON. That, sir, is icing on the cake. Well done!

I love costumes like these, but the problem is that they seem a rather high investment for something that, really, you can only wear once. Doing the same costume year after year seems very not in the spirit of things.

Enjoy the candy sales tomorrow!

It’s Independence Day (if you call it ‘4th of July’ then, for the sake of consistency, you should call Christmas ’25th of December’). Independence comes from self-determination and, as Heinlein said, “…willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, any time and with utter recklessness.”

And nothing says ‘freedom’ like being proficient and prodigious with your thundertoys.

Shoot your fireworks, cook your hot dogs, drink your beer. But those things aren’t what gave us this holiday. Guns and the willingness to use them did.

The range. Go.