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Kiriakou on Christmas

John Kiriakou's account of finding Christmas so depressing since his two divorces that he does not decorate or mark it at all — and of the year he replaced it by taking his children to every station on the New York City subway system in a single day.

Kiriakou is unusually direct about disliking Christmas. He finds it very depressing, does not decorate, puts up no tree or ornaments, and pretends it is a normal day like any other, because otherwise he gets too depressed to function.[1] Asked whether he was always like that, he says he was not — Christmas was wonderful when he was a child — and attributes the change to being divorced twice.[1]

The substitute he found is characteristic. One year he told the children they would open their presents and then get on the subway and visit every single station on the New York City system. They did it in nine and a half hours, with one break where they came up at the zoo for lunch and then went back down to finish. He notes that the route takes a lot of planning because of the backtracking; a man written up in the New York Times had done it in what Kiriakou calls a record-fast twenty-five hours.[2][3]

See also

References

  1. DMZ America Podcast, 2025-11-1956:21 on YouTube · Transcript
  2. DMZ America Podcast, 2025-11-1956:51 on YouTube · Transcript
  3. DMZ America Podcast, 2025-11-1957:24 on YouTube · Transcript

Sourced from John Kiriakou's on-record public statements. See his profile for the full body of his interviews, podcast appearances, and short-form video.