It's Here !
A cold and dismal gray November rain beat upon the window with a soft monotonous rhythm. Lionus stood motionlessly before the window with his hands clasped behind him looking out. The reflection of the rain running down the windowpanes cast crawling serpents of light and shadow down his face. He stared unseeingly at the stark leafless trees outside that had been reduced to black skeletal hands that motionlessly clawed at the leadened sky.
It would have been nice, he thought abstractly, if Halloween had come and gone as it had in past years. Party-like in a macabre way, but brief so that it did not linger on the memory. But this year. This year was different. The jack-o-lanterns and trick-or-treaters were gone, but Halloween this year had left a lingering cold hand of awareness clutching at his heart that he could not push away.
The lowering flames in the fireplace had done little to warm the room. Or maybe it was just the chill that had settled onto his mind that made the room feel so empty and cold. Away in another room of the house he could just make out the sounds of a radio playing. The music was unidentifiable at this distance, but he recognized the tempo and the mood that the music conveyed. He hadn’t expected the radio to be seduced by what had come, but it had been.
He silently clutched at the fist that one of his pawhands had unconsciously formed with his other. It was only after a few silent moments, and the painful piercing of his flesh by his finger claws, that he realized what he had unconsciously been doing and broke the grip and loosened his fist.
After a long while of blank depressed thoughts moving through his mind and where the only sounds he was aware of were the rain outside and the dull beating of his heart in his chest, he sighed in defeated resignation. His lips barely moved when he half-whispered to himself, “It’s begun."
Okay, enough of the story weaving. :) Christmas advertising has begun and there’s no ignoring it. The first holiday commercials are already on the television, the stores have already started decorating themselves with festive reds and greens and tinsel garlands. Heh, even the city where I live has gotten out their Christmas lights and lighted them already.
Every year earlier and earlier *sigh*.
Now don’t get me wrong. I LIKE Christmas and all the holidays clustered around it. Hanukkah, Kwanza, International Lion Day - just kidding on that last one, but still a good idea. :D
The one negative thing that comes with the arrival of the commercial holiday season is the personal reminder that it brings me. I am made aware that I only have less than two months to come up with an idea for my annual Christmas Card and get it done!!!!
Oh sure, you laugh. You can afford to. But I’ve been sending out a “card” every year since 1996! That’s more than ten years! And making a Christmas Card is something that ... that ... that I feel I HAVE to do. It’s my way of saying to the world, and all the crappy things in it, that it hasn’t gotten me down. That I still believe in happy endings and smiles and ... and ... and enjoying saying dumb things like, “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah”, or “Happy Kwanza” or “Joyous Lion Day!” Granted I still don’t get too much of a response with that last one, but I’m still trying. :)
So while you’re all facing the slow and stately approach to your particular happy holiday (I prefer to celebrate them all since you get more gifts that way), I will be suffering the fast and avalanching deadline of having to get that stupid Christmas Card out on time!
So now, as I am actually listening Christmas favorites to get in the mood, let me be the first to wish you ALL a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza and to wish that all the particular good things of each to come to each and every one of you all three hundred and sixty-five days a year. :)
It would have been nice, he thought abstractly, if Halloween had come and gone as it had in past years. Party-like in a macabre way, but brief so that it did not linger on the memory. But this year. This year was different. The jack-o-lanterns and trick-or-treaters were gone, but Halloween this year had left a lingering cold hand of awareness clutching at his heart that he could not push away.
The lowering flames in the fireplace had done little to warm the room. Or maybe it was just the chill that had settled onto his mind that made the room feel so empty and cold. Away in another room of the house he could just make out the sounds of a radio playing. The music was unidentifiable at this distance, but he recognized the tempo and the mood that the music conveyed. He hadn’t expected the radio to be seduced by what had come, but it had been.
He silently clutched at the fist that one of his pawhands had unconsciously formed with his other. It was only after a few silent moments, and the painful piercing of his flesh by his finger claws, that he realized what he had unconsciously been doing and broke the grip and loosened his fist.
After a long while of blank depressed thoughts moving through his mind and where the only sounds he was aware of were the rain outside and the dull beating of his heart in his chest, he sighed in defeated resignation. His lips barely moved when he half-whispered to himself, “It’s begun."
Okay, enough of the story weaving. :) Christmas advertising has begun and there’s no ignoring it. The first holiday commercials are already on the television, the stores have already started decorating themselves with festive reds and greens and tinsel garlands. Heh, even the city where I live has gotten out their Christmas lights and lighted them already.
Every year earlier and earlier *sigh*.
Now don’t get me wrong. I LIKE Christmas and all the holidays clustered around it. Hanukkah, Kwanza, International Lion Day - just kidding on that last one, but still a good idea. :D
The one negative thing that comes with the arrival of the commercial holiday season is the personal reminder that it brings me. I am made aware that I only have less than two months to come up with an idea for my annual Christmas Card and get it done!!!!
Oh sure, you laugh. You can afford to. But I’ve been sending out a “card” every year since 1996! That’s more than ten years! And making a Christmas Card is something that ... that ... that I feel I HAVE to do. It’s my way of saying to the world, and all the crappy things in it, that it hasn’t gotten me down. That I still believe in happy endings and smiles and ... and ... and enjoying saying dumb things like, “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah”, or “Happy Kwanza” or “Joyous Lion Day!” Granted I still don’t get too much of a response with that last one, but I’m still trying. :)
So while you’re all facing the slow and stately approach to your particular happy holiday (I prefer to celebrate them all since you get more gifts that way), I will be suffering the fast and avalanching deadline of having to get that stupid Christmas Card out on time!
So now, as I am actually listening Christmas favorites to get in the mood, let me be the first to wish you ALL a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza and to wish that all the particular good things of each to come to each and every one of you all three hundred and sixty-five days a year. :)