This time of year is strange. Two weeks ago, I was rejoicing that it was almost Christmas. We were still buying decorations and gifts at full-price, wrapping them, running around doing last minute shopping, baking....all the warm traditions that go along with Christmas week.Now, those same decorations that made us feel warm and cosy now seem tired and almost redundant. The stores are selling their Christmas merchandise at 50-75% off. It's a great deal and next year, the bargains will seem purposeful and smart. It is hard, however, to get motivated to go browse the Christmas clearance section. The further behind us Christmas gets, the harder it is to browse. It doesn't help that everything is thrown into one aisle that is crammed with people, fighting to buy that packet of icicles for next years tree that is now only 25 cents.
My tree is still up though I'll take it down tomorrow. As I've mentioned, as is often a tradition in the UK, my family keeps their tree up for the twelve days following Christmas- through Epiphany on January sixth.
What is it about Christmas that seems so exciting until it's passed and then it just seems tired? It's not as though there's much waiting after New Years. January, February and March are the longest months of the year. Here in the Midwest, they're dreary months, full of unpredictable weather, darkness, dampness and grey. Even for people like me who loves snow, they're hard months to get through. Spring is not certain until April when it starts to approach timidly at first and then as May approaches, it's in full swing, even though there is still a chance of a rare snowfall.
It's the next few months that are the hard ones. I always thought it odd that New Years was at the start of the these months. I know it's all based on a calendar but it would be so much more interesting if the New Year began in the spring, the renewal of the earth visible in the little green shoots that quickly become daffodils, tulips, hyanciths and daisies. Instead, we ring in the new year and then....nothing. Months of winter lie ahead, those green shoots just hopes, hibernating in the earth until the snows begin to melt and the earth is newly green again.
I suppose in other parts of the world, New Year isn't in Winter. I should probably take that into account. However, I don't live in the other hemisphere and honestly, couldn't image celebrating Christmas in the middle of summer. That would be strange. It was strange enough living on the west coast and having the days building up to Christmas be 70 degrees and sunny.
Don't get me wrong. I still love Winter. I'm one of the weirdos who doesn't mind a spot of bad weather provided my love ones are safe and not driving the treacherous roads. I like nothing better than a snow day, burrowing down with a mug of hot chocolate, a jigsaw slowly in progress on the table, a stack of books taunting me, trying to get me to choose which one to get lost in as I enjoy the fact that I'm a prisoner of the weather.
Yet I still think that it's odd that we ring in the New Year and then....that's it. We all go back to work. We make and try to keep resolutions and that's pretty much it. It feels as though we should have another big holiday in February, something to get us through that month that may be the shortest on the calendar but can sometimes be the darkest, hardest to get through month of the year.
Then again, maybe Spring wouldn't be so welcomed if we didn't have the bleak period of nothingness before it arrived.
Either way, it's something to think about. I'll take down my tree tomorrow and try to find something to replace the emptyness that the room now presents. Maybe I should put my new exercise bike there. I made a resolution to get in better shape. I figured if I go with an exercise bike, i can watch TV while using it. I can be an energetic couch potato instead of a hippo-like one instead.
Whatever your resolutions may be, if you made any at all, I hope 2009 is a good year for you all, whatever it may bring.
Happy Monday.
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