We’re entering that time of the year when everything moves at warp speed. It’s not my favorite. My wife loves it; I loathe it.
The terrible thing about the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays is that there is so much pomp surrounding the least important elements of the season while the reasons for them seem to miss their importance entirely. But why should I complain? It’s the American way.
My wife is a doll maker and quilter. She teaches at the local community center and showcases her wares at bazaars and craft shows. This weekend, she asked me to help her with a particular bazaar that she was participating in. I agreed despite the fact that I write several blogs and oversee a team of writers that also write blogs. I manage, in all, over 30 blogs for a list of clients as diverse as the Melting Pot itself. Where we were going to be wasn’t wired so I was not going to have access to the Internet. Fortunately, we were just a couple of blocks from my wife’s daughter’s house and I could walk to get online. I did.
Between helping my wife, walking back and forth through the streets of small town Pennsylvania, logging on to write, juggling an automobile between our daughter and her sister’s boyfriend, and attending a Fun Night at the local fire hall with my wife’s grandparents, I’m beat. The blogging took place in between all the “fun activities.” It hasn’t been that fun; it’s really exhausting.
And that’s the way I feel about the holidays. They aren’t much fun; they’re really exhausting. Yet, somehow, I usually find some kind of meaning in the midst of them. Seldom do I go an entire season without finding a morsel of wisdom, truth, or glory that I can seize. As amazing as that is, I never look forward to the month between Thanksgiving Day and New Year’s Day. When it’s over, I’m glad. In the space of that entire month I feel like a ping-pong ball slapping against the paddles of joy and despair. In the end, I’m just an existential puppet on an invisible string of meaning. It’s one long poetic moment. I hope my attitude changes soon.