I wanted to post one more column before Christmas, both to update everyone on the CO Facebook page and to make a few recommendations.
First, the update.
I spoke with CO last week, and he reminded me that FB suspended the CO site on November 21st, which means that this past Sunday marked one month since that particular day that will live in infamy. He was hoping that the suspension would be temporary, and if so, that a one-month suspension would be a nice, round number, and that the site might be back up on December 21st or 22nd.
Since it is now December 23rd and the page is not back up, we all know that that didn’t work.
So we’ve now got two options, which I first mentioned a month ago: either re-create a new Facebook site and hope as many followers from the original site manage to find us there, or create a new site somewhere else.
Right now, the “somewhere else” option is looking better, if only because the fecklessness of Facebook doesn’t seem fixable. If we manage to launch another FB site, what’s to say that they won’t shut us down again in another week, or month, or year? They still have not even responded to CO’s many questions.
Questions like, “Why were we suspended?” and “How long will the suspension last?” and “Specifically how can we avoid getting suspended again in the future?” and “What the hell?”
So CO asked me to do two things: 1. Talk to my whiz kid youngest daughter about alternative options for a new site. And 2. Ask those of you who followed us here from the CO FB site if you are someone — or know someone — who could assist us in launching a new site.
What we’re looking for is a kind of quasi-news aggregation site like our original FB page, where CO and a regular cast of characters can link to stories of interest and also put up regular columns, posts, and discussion topics, which all of CO nation can then carry on lively discussions about in the comments.
As opposed to a personal site like my WordPress page that you are now reading – thank you, by the way! – we’re looking to recreate the sense of community that CO inadvertently created on the old FB page, rather than just one person’s site featuring only his own idiosyncratic thoughts, no matter how much of a lovable, hilarious curmudgeon/genius he may be. (I’m just reporting what I’ve heard, people.)
CO mentioned the Instapundit.com page as one model of what he’s thinking of, and we’re also considering a Substack page, too. I’ve asked my daughter to look at those models, and she and I will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of those – and any other options she can think of – right after Christmas.
In the meantime, if any of you have the knowledge to help us set up a site like that, please contact me and let me know that you are willing, and I may reach out to you when we have a plan. When my brother-in-law saw that the page was suspended, he quickly found and bought the rights to CautiousOptimism.org. So we have a domain name. (Someone is apparently squatting on the name “CautiousOptimism.com” and wanted $6800 for it! So that was a hard and quick pass.)
One way or another, our goal is to get a new home for Cautious Optimism up and running in 2026!
Now, on to Christmas.
I hope you all are either planning to hunker down for a quiet and cozy Christmas at home, or else that your travel plans are made and will come off smoothly. We’re staying at home for Christmas, and my two brothers-in-law and their wives are coming to us. Our youngest is home on break after her first semester at Exeter, and our oldest and her husband will be at their home in Denver for the holiday, though they’ll be coming to see us in early January.
As a Christian, this is always a joyous time of year for me, but it’s always tinged with a little melancholy, as I know it is for others.
My dad died 11 Decembers ago, and that’s always in my mind. Regular readers know that my mom’s Alzheimer’s has progressed to the point that we had to put her in a memory care home in August. I was up to see her for an early Christmas last week, and will be up again in a few weeks, and while the disease is robbing her of a little more of herself each week, she still recognizes us, and her default setting of “pretty happy” is still holding. We’ve been able to focus on the moments with her, and she has been content in the present.
Which works out, since all she has now is the present, along with a lot of disjointed memories, which are almost all happy ones. But knowing that last Christmas was the last one she’ll ever spend at home is tougher on us than on her, I think.
I’ve been listening to a mix of old carols, and some newer versions, too. You can’t go wrong with brass quartets or quintets doing the former, and a quirky prodigy named Sufjan Stevens has a lot of eccentric but well-done versions that have become favorites – O Come O Come Emmanuel, Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming, Once in Royal David’s City, etc.
I’ll also watch It’s a Wonderful Life, though I’ve seen it so many times that I’ll probably just fast forward to a few specific scenes. (I can’t get enough Jimmy Stewart, and Donna Reed at the height of her powers approaches the wholesome yet giggity-inducing beauty of my smokeshow wife.)
And it wouldn’t be Christmas for me with at least one or two versions of A Christmas Carol. There’ll always be a place in my heart for the two old classics I saw as a kid – the 1938 version with Reginald Owen as Scrooge, and the 1951 with Alistair Sim. The George C. Scott one is good too, but I grew up with the oldies, and they formed the template for me. But don’t sleep on the 1999 version, in which Patrick Stewart nailed it.
And while I know that everyone has seen the movie versions, if you haven’t ever read the Dickens novel, you owe it to yourself. If you’re going to be traveling and would like the audio version, the late, great Frank Muller did a great reading of it, which you can find anywhere for free.
Finally, this last month without the CO Facebook page has made me more aware than ever of how much that site has meant to me. I’ve made friendships there, and found a rare place where good faith debate and civil behavior still actually exists online. And the chance to write columns has allowed me to mock some idiots, share some thoughts and lower my blood pressure and achieve catharsis on a regular basis.
I can’t thank you all enough for reading and responding, and I am really looking forward to finding a way to launch a new version of Cautious Optimism in the new year!
And I can’t think of a better way to end than with part of the toast that the Charles Dickens character gives at the end of the movie about his writing of A Christmas Carol (called “The Man Who Invented Christmas”):
“I wish you all many, many happy Christmases, and friendships, and great accumulation of cheerful recollections… and heaven at last for all of us!”
Merry Christmas everybody!
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Martin Simpson 