Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
The week between
Christmas 2022 is mostly in the rear view mirror. Now comes that long week between holidays when days off are still being granted and “normal” will not return until another Big Day has come and gone. My office was closed yesterday and will be closed after a half day on Friday so I have to find 20 hours to squeeze in somewhere. Like many other businesses, US Immigration Services has very little to say this week, so being very productive will be a challenge.
This year the after-Christmas-let-down is not too bad for me. Jan and I did very little to celebrate except to hang out together, watch movies, and call friends and family. Jan bought me some “light” egg nog (what an oxymoron that is!) and I broke into my son’s bottle of bourbon that he left here last Summer. I’m ordinarily not a hard liquor drinker, but that combination was quite tasty…
We face-timed with the boys to watch them open the presents we sent. This was the year of the LEGO and the two of them were excited to see so many of them. They represent hours of time and imagination spent creating fanciful structures. Later that day we had a call from Ted and Sarah and talked to them for almost an hour and a half.
By early evening the glow had worn off and we were done with Christmas. There is something solemn about the later part of Christmas Day. Most of the celebrations are over. The holiday itself has been memorable in either a good way or a not so good way. There’s a certain sadness that it’s over and maybe a sense of relief as well. All the energy, time, and money spent getting ready can be exhausting on so many levels.
It’s time to wait for New Year’s Eve to come and go. It has been years since I’ve been to a party and stayed up until midnight to ring in the new year. Maybe I’ve turned into a curmudgeon, but I don’t have the slightest desire to celebrate the change from one year to the next. My big goal is to remember to use 2023 on all correspondence. And, to think about how long a span it is from 1949 to almost a quarter of a way into a new century.
This is not about anything to do with Seasonal Affective Disorder which can be rampant at this time of year. It’s more about organizing life around the absence of children and family on such sentimental days. Yesterday I was with a woman who spent Christmas Day alone, and who got no calls wishing her a Merry Christmas. For her, it was a painful, lonely day. My guess is there are a lot of people in that same boat, for whom the Holidays are an unpleasant reminder of how home alone feels.
Well, now I’ve written myself into a bit of a funk. I usually try to mask it, but this year I think I’ll just acknowledge its presence without giving it power over my general mood. I’ve got some enjoyable occasions coming up as well as some quiet time to think about the best way to enter a new year. My wish for 2023 is that Jan’s health will improve and we will be able to do a little traveling. We’ll see Ted in a week, and we’re going to New Jersey in February for Xander’s birthday. These things make my heart happy and will get me through this weird week!