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.