As much as I could easily segue into the irony of my former governor’s comment that “sunshine is the best disinfectant,” I will restrain myself in an effort to bring posting for the day to a close on a more positive note than dead puppies.  Instead, I will be guided by the commentary of Connecticut criminal defense luminary Norm Pattis.  

Norm’s holiday commentary appears in the very same version of he Law Tribune that contains this brilliant interview of none other than my dear blawging neighbor, Gideon, who details his blawging inspirations:

Gideon also reads other legal blogs. His favorites include Scotusblog, Second Circuit Blog, Fourth Amendment Blog and Capital Defense Weekly. Gideon often goes to them after reading an important court decision. “I’d turn to one of the criminal law blogs to see their take on how it impacts our practice. And usually these posts are up within a day or so of the opinion being issued, if not hours,” Gideon said.

But enough about Gideon’s excellent taste and discretion, and back to Norm.

The Christmas season is often a time of cheap and easy sentimentality. We take a hiatus from our private imperatives and pretend, if only for a moment, that good will govern our affairs. We greet strangers with a kiss and think it not strange.

Economists keep telling us things will get worse before they get better. Some folks will lose jobs, others homes; we have to recover from something like a national drunk, now paying an overdue tab for pleasures long since passed.

But, truth be told, it isn’t really all that bad. My wife and I sat the other night working over our holiday gift list, reflecting on all the good things that folks have done for us in the past year. We want to express gratitude and thanks. So we check off items on a list scaled back in part by fear of hard times to come.

I know.  Almost made me cry too, it’s so filled with warmth and love.  How Norm ever picked criminal defense lawyer over inspirational speaker I’ll never know.  It’s our loss.

While I’m left with no choice but to toil in Norm’s warm and fuzzy shadow, I still offer my best wishes to all of you.  As Norm put it so very well, “it isn’t really all that bad.”  If I may add, we’re doing just fine.  If the sun isn’t shining today, it will be another day.  That’s how it works.  

Happy Holidays.  And I sincerely mean that.