Back when we were children it was a dip in time, a treasured week. A stint outside the ordinary where your obligations just froze over. That time between Christmas and New Year’s, when school was vacant and you took the opportunity to show off your Christmas goodies to your friends. New coat, a bicycle or a football (I speak from the perspective of my gender). No responsibilities. Ignore that looming specter of next semester.
Here in a college town the old childhood dip between the holidays is observed joyfully by all. The college students are all away, traffic slows, life’s pace is less hurried. Children play in the street. Pancakes for breakfast. Nap in front of the TV.
Yet, this is the traditional time for accounting, for mending fences, forgiving debts. The Christmas decorations have become tawdry; how soon can we store them away? Our children might prefer to prolong the season. We are ready to see it pass.
For me at least, New Year’s Day is a welcome hangover from too much food, too rich. The solstice holidays are an emotional yo-yo, down and up and down again. Did we do everything required of us? There's always that hope of renewal in another year, and it's right there, just over the horizon. Take a deep breath.
Quo vadis?
Dac Crossley
December 30, 2011
“We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.” – Joan Didion.
You summed it up so well that all I can say is, "Ditto". Nice blog.
Posted by: Marja McGraw | December 31, 2011 at 12:30 PM
I believe one of the most sinful pleasures of life is taking a nap while everyone else is working.
By New Year's Day I want all signs of the holidays behind me for a fresh start.
Happy New Year
Irene
Posted by: irene black | December 30, 2011 at 08:02 PM
Good one, Dac. It reminded me of my childhood, just as others who have commented. Thanks for writing these, and recalling memories for all of us!
Your cousin,
Julian
Posted by: Julian Baird | December 30, 2011 at 03:11 PM
Dac, you reminded me of my childhood. Now I always hope the new year will be better than the last as far as health and family crises. I hope that for you, too.
Posted by: Caroline Clemmons | December 30, 2011 at 01:56 PM
I love what you have to say, Dac, from here in my own in-between time. No teaching right now, so I'm catching up on the filing, the correspondence; making plans for the new year for classes, for my writing and marketing...I want this time to last longer than it will so I'm taking that deep breath as I say to you and everyone else --Happy New Year.
Posted by: Eileen Obser | December 30, 2011 at 01:47 PM
A very thoughtful post, and yes, I agree. I like the New Year for those same reasons..it's sort of like cleaning house...from my gender perspective...get rid of stuff you don't want, hold tight to those things you treasure.
Happy New Year, my friend.
(see my blog I just put up--titled: IS IT OVER YET?
Posted by: Celia Yeary | December 30, 2011 at 12:59 PM
Dac,
How true! It's an in-between time; we're getting ready to say "goodbye" to the current year and "hello" to the new year but we're not quite there yet. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day will take care of that.
Happy New Year!
Posted by: Patricia Gligor | December 30, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Well said, Dac. The New Year brings with it hope for new beginnings and, this year, the fear of the end of the Mayan calendar.
Posted by: Jean Henry Mead | December 30, 2011 at 12:26 PM
this week between Christmas and New Year for over 40 years has been time off.
For some years while I was teaching at UGA and working on my Ph.D. it was time when I tried to get work done on my degree or on short projects for clients.
Since I left UGA in 1984 it has become a dead time, a time to read, a time to relax, a time to do NOTHING except what I want to do in the moment.
BTW what does Quo Vadis mean in English. Google Translator only shows it as Quo Vadis in the English box too.
Posted by: Alan | December 30, 2011 at 12:17 PM