Sunday, December 23, 2007

A Happy (Belated) Solstice!

I missed the mark (yet again, they mumble) because I failed to greet all of you at precisely 1:10 yesterday afternoon.

The days grow longer. Hooray! The X-moose will be upon us before we know it! And soon (please, FSM) I will no longer be driving to work in the dark. (If I skid off the road because of Black Ice, I'd like to see what I'm hitting! Perhaps this Seasonal Depression will lift with the longer days!

Today is foggy and (relatively) warm and I must venture to the Mart of K, because, despite my best efforts, X-moose is not all ready and wrapped.

I am feeling little of the Spirit of the Holiday, having watched more than a few people melt down over Unmet Expectations including those that they have projected onto themselves and their kin.

Witness:

Acquaintance with multiple children, holding an eviction notice in one hand and a substantial bonus check in the other wonders what to get his/her kids for Christmas with the check. Hello! Roof. Over Their Heads?

Caller, living in SRO, (motel room--the acronym means Single Room Occupancy) looking for a turkey because he has his kids "for the holiday." While I admire his desire to follow tradition, I have to wonder: where/how is he going to cook it?

There are more. I have several secreted in my own little grinchy heart that are far too personal to share. They revolve around Santa and Stockings and the dreaded Day I Discovered the Truth, and further, the Day I Discovered That The Sooner I Could Get The Heck Out On My Own, The Happier All Parties Would Be.

I am not fond of the Holidays. I was this way before I started working where I do. The excess troubles me. I was a Child of The Depression, born 20 years after The Crash. Where this comes from, I know not. I sincerely hope that I have not passed my curmugeonly ways along to my (completely and fully) grown children.

There has been knitting. The Solstice Sweater is still On The Needles. I have reached the 12" mark, so 3" (about) shy of where I will join body and sleeves and start the decreases. It will not be a Christmas Sweater. And the sooner my mind wraps itself around that fact, the happier and less stressed we all shall be.

I am nearly 3/4 of the way finished with the fourth CIC sock which puts me at about 82.5% of my CIC goal. I have 2 Ship Support hats in varying stages of completion.

For your holiday amusement, I will leave you with this review of the season's songs. A reviewer's after my very own (tiny, grinchy, dried up) heart!

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Comments:
A very peaceful and satisfying Christmas to you and yours, Ann. Not to mention a rockin' fabulous 2008! I admire your "persistence of vision" (book title by John Varley). I've often been fortified by your shared stories. They help me remember that one more hat makes a difference. Many thanks to you for the gift you offer us, the kind that's too huge to fit in any old stocking!
Debbie / Indiana / NAS
 
Hah! Thank you SO very much for the link to that review! Made my day... in so many ways.

It's always a crap shoot, me and the holidays, like you, I'm not really all that fond of them, in part due to the examples you gave. seriously.

Make good time :^)
 
The verification word begins with "xs". Hmm.
Have a peaceful and comfortable Christmas. My family stopped exchanging gifts years ago except for small children, and I don't even do that - but when I find something for them, I send it right away. Usually. So yesterday I get a package, containing chocolate and the spelling bee practice booklet from when I was in sixth grade. (Man, some of those words would stump me now.) Now what can I send back...
 
You are not what springs to my mind when someone says "Grinch," m'lady. Too many hatz and mittenz under that bridge for that one.

I loved the Christmas carols review -- read every word. I want to send it to my scholarly and analytical son. It is just the kind of thing he might write if he were a Biblical scholar who actually listened to carols.
 
A very happy belated Solstice to you as well. We celebrate Solstice every year now with a Yule log, time with family, and very few (if any) material things. I work with a population of students who often do not eat very many meals when the schools are shut down. The parents can't afford it. Yet I see them with all their new "stuff" every January. They are thin, cold, and often hungry, but by gosh mom and dad managed to get them some new $90 shoes. Hang in there through the holidays and find plenty of time to enjoy yourself however you can.
 
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