Ever wonder why all the holidays seem to culminate at the end of the year? Whoever decided to place all major religious and national holidays could have easily placed them in June or August, couldn’t they? I think that someone, somewhere realized that we needed a holiday season, an entire season. I know that people complain about the added errands, the extra costs, and the lack of time this time of year. But really, what is so bad about shopping and baking and making people and places sparkle and glow when the rest of the year we deal with life without the shimmer and good cheer.
We’ve been good all year, or at least we try, we deserve a few dozen cookies by now. By the time October rolls around, the doldrums of daily life put us in a haze that make the days go by. We are in need of a peppermint coated sugar high to help us to finish the year. We need to hear happy-go-lucky Christmas beats to fa-la-la-la us through the cold nights. We need the sparkle in the evergreens to remind us of joy. We need excuses to see our loved ones as much as possible for us to realize the beauty of life, accompanied by an appropriate amount holiday flavored cocktails of course.
We all realize that life goes on, that we will still feel sad and angry, worried and dull, but the cinnamon and people all around help to curb the pain and loneliness and stress of life. And it couldn’t come at a better time. Because by the end of the year, it seems that you’ve had more than your share of bad days, weeks, months. You can’t help but to characterize this year by all the hard times and frustrations and can’t wait to toast it away. Even though all the happenings of the previous year don’t really flow away with champagne on December 31st, the hope of a new beginning is nice.
Renewal. The sense that we can start fresh by choosing to do so, resolving ourselves to be better people and willing good things to ourselves and others. I think that’s the point of this season, all sixty to ninety days of it – hope, with undertones of faith and joy. From giving thanks to looking forward, we do it with good wishes and peace in mind. We do it to endure; someone knew we needed hope to endure.
May the remainder of the season lead you to hope for good things in the new year. With love.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Southern Seasons Greetings
I like being from the South. I enjoy country music. I can appreciate the alternate English language. And there’s nothing that compares to Southern fried chicken with a kick. And a very intricate part of the South is being laid back, taking it slow. We talk slowly, we walk slowly, we aren’t in any rush. I like that too, most of the time.
Picture a very crowded mall at Christmas, place it in the South. If you haven’t experienced this first hand, you probably think that all crowded shopping malls are frustrating at the holidays. That all malls are filled with people who browse through the items you are wanting to buy, who stand in long lines and can’t find their coupons once they get to the cashier, who stand in the middle of the walkway with their ten relatives trying to decide if they want to go to this store or that or do they want to eat now, who follow that pedestrian to their parking spot even though you are behind them. Ok, sure, but add at least ten minutes to each of these things when you are in the South.
Because browsing is an art form. Because we add about seven extra syllables when we are apologizing to the cashier for holding her up, but we know that “coo-pawn” is in this big bag somewhere. Because, bless his heart, Uncle Bob is just starving, though that store is on the way out? Because, did I mention, we walk soo slowly. Not that I’m in a hurry, but my goodness, when everyone is moving so slowly it’s a bit overwhelming.
Patience has its limits. You have to pass by people. You learn to do so with finesse after twenty years of experience. You learn to park in the obscure parking lot or in the last row, only to avoid the slow moving cars.
The upside though, everybody is polite. If you bump into someone, you definitely hear “excuse me” or “oh, I’m sorry.” That is something that doesn’t happen everywhere. And if you take a few minutes to sit on a bench and watch, that family trying to decide what to do can actually be amusing, when it’s not you that’s navigating around them.
Merry Christmas y’all. Take time to enjoy the things and people you love, slowly.
Picture a very crowded mall at Christmas, place it in the South. If you haven’t experienced this first hand, you probably think that all crowded shopping malls are frustrating at the holidays. That all malls are filled with people who browse through the items you are wanting to buy, who stand in long lines and can’t find their coupons once they get to the cashier, who stand in the middle of the walkway with their ten relatives trying to decide if they want to go to this store or that or do they want to eat now, who follow that pedestrian to their parking spot even though you are behind them. Ok, sure, but add at least ten minutes to each of these things when you are in the South.
Because browsing is an art form. Because we add about seven extra syllables when we are apologizing to the cashier for holding her up, but we know that “coo-pawn” is in this big bag somewhere. Because, bless his heart, Uncle Bob is just starving, though that store is on the way out? Because, did I mention, we walk soo slowly. Not that I’m in a hurry, but my goodness, when everyone is moving so slowly it’s a bit overwhelming.
Patience has its limits. You have to pass by people. You learn to do so with finesse after twenty years of experience. You learn to park in the obscure parking lot or in the last row, only to avoid the slow moving cars.
The upside though, everybody is polite. If you bump into someone, you definitely hear “excuse me” or “oh, I’m sorry.” That is something that doesn’t happen everywhere. And if you take a few minutes to sit on a bench and watch, that family trying to decide what to do can actually be amusing, when it’s not you that’s navigating around them.
Merry Christmas y’all. Take time to enjoy the things and people you love, slowly.
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