I’ll have a blue post-Christmas
While the rest of the world is glad that the holidays have finally come to an end (and justifiably so), I am in a terrible funk that Christmas/New Years is over. At the end of A Christmas Carol, Dickens says of Scrooge:
…and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.
Well, I came out of the birth canal with that attitude about Christmas. I didn't need to be haunted. I think I drive Mrs. Wife a bit crazy, but The Daughters seem to be an appreciative audience for my holiday mania. I can’t help myself. If you saw New York City all tarted up for Christmas you’d be moved too. 20+ years of the Rockefeller Center tree and the Bryant Park skating rink and Macy’s lights got under my skin so now I look forward to Christmas with the calm maturity of a 7-year old.
There is some bad voodoo in the ether here in Unbearable land. It’s not the kind of thing that's fit for public airing. The holidays were the perfect tonic for it, but now that the celebrating and good cheer is all behind me, I have to figure out how to fix things. It’s upsetting.
You can take it in stride
Or you can take it right between the eyes
Suck up, suck up
And take your medicine
It's a good day, it's a good day
To face the hard things
Take Your Medicine
Cloud Cult
…and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.
Well, I came out of the birth canal with that attitude about Christmas. I didn't need to be haunted. I think I drive Mrs. Wife a bit crazy, but The Daughters seem to be an appreciative audience for my holiday mania. I can’t help myself. If you saw New York City all tarted up for Christmas you’d be moved too. 20+ years of the Rockefeller Center tree and the Bryant Park skating rink and Macy’s lights got under my skin so now I look forward to Christmas with the calm maturity of a 7-year old.
There is some bad voodoo in the ether here in Unbearable land. It’s not the kind of thing that's fit for public airing. The holidays were the perfect tonic for it, but now that the celebrating and good cheer is all behind me, I have to figure out how to fix things. It’s upsetting.
You can take it in stride
Or you can take it right between the eyes
Suck up, suck up
And take your medicine
It's a good day, it's a good day
To face the hard things
Take Your Medicine
Cloud Cult
posted by The Unbearable Banishment at
2:49 PM
12 Comments:
I feel your pain. I detest putting away the glittery wonder of the Christmas decorations at home because it leaves my house looking so utterly sad and lonesome. But my antidote this year is to hurry up and finish that task so that I can start on an easy and pretty little project that will bring a smile to my face. Or, alternatively, you could just throw a party. My significant other informed me last night that we would be doing just that in a week or two.
Voodoo is only potent when allowed to be practised by those shaking the chickens claw.
Keep your shoes firmly on, and rise above whatever it is that ails you.
For some the lack of routine during the holidays unhinges them and for others it is the return to schedules that does it. I need some kind of outside force to be productive but I loathe answering to "authority" and being denied flexibility. Hence, in my teaching days, long vacations were good and work was sometimes too constrictive.
Hope you find the balance/solution.
Still searching for that job? :¬)
Me, I'm glad it's over. Every 5 years would do me!
and fix it you will. timing is the only unknown. you know my favorite word: "Onward"
i enjoy the holiday decorations. but if we decorated like that year round - as the retail merchants are pushing - it wouldn't be special.
patience and it will find you again. it's still in there, fussing to get out. you've just been had a few other things drowning it out of late...patience.
Point: That first morning I walk into the room where the Christmas tree WAS is always a sad shock to my system.
Jimmy: You give the most whoop-ass advice and pep talks of anyone I've ever know. I envy the people around you who get a steady diet of this stuff.
Annie: That's all I'm asking for! A little balance! Is that so much?
Map: Yes, some new work would be very nice, indeed. A Conference Board poll out TODAY shows that only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their work--a record low! And an additional 10% are out of work!
Daisy: I know. It'll all work out. But why the fuck do I have to run the gauntlet before it does?
Gnu: I know. It'll wall work out. But why the fu... hey I just said that.
The other week I drove past a house in Pemberton SW Australia where this woman lives. Because it was christmas is had a load of decorations up, but the driver said that its christmas all year round at that house. The woman loves christmas so bloody much that she never takes the decorations down, it's like a year long christmas. No doubt she has some kind of shop to go with it, but don't you think thats quite sad? Christmas is a break from the norm, it shouldn't be the norm. Unfortunately, the norm is predominently crap. I hope your norm improves.
I'm NOT glad the holidays are over. I am NOT ready to deal with reality/routine. I have this huge fear that NOTHING will change. I'm dying for an adventure.
Jo: Well, I'm certainly no advocate of year-round Christmas decorations. That's a bit much. And, unfortunately, the norm is an endless cycle of gladness and shit. You just have to wait for the wheel to turn.
Sid: We're in the same rocking boat. Perhaps we can form a support group.
Oh, I really feel you on this one. It's not the holiday season so much, as I don't partake, but the long break...and now I too have to face up to some things that need facing up to and figuring out. I'm so stressed that I'm tempted to burrow back under the covers...permanently! It helps me to have long talks with Sarge and my sister. Then at least in the talking I feel proactive, whether or not it leads to immediate action...but I don't know your situation exactly...
I think I'm going to go with Jimmy's kick in the ass on my own stuff too. Too bad he's not my doctoral dissertation advisor, damnit!!!! He'd make a good one.
Anyway, that was a long nonsensical comment, but what I meant to say was: I empathize.
I like to slowly transition out of the holidays - for the decorations, I take down all the Christmassy stuff, like the tree and santas, but leave up anything that is winter-specific, like white lights, some real garlands around windows and a snowman here and there. Its much better than suddenly loosing everything festive.
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