robin laid an egg

[adularia]

I think I have determined that I would like Christmas better if it were a workday. Still, you understand, keeping a lot of the cultural overkill in the run-up to it - but in my mind, the real holiday is December 24, because that's the actual height of anticipation, and the holiday itself will be spent in our pajamas, eating, if we are so lucky as

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[najalaise]

"Victorian-inspired schmaltz is one big, bewildering collective party," has me nodding along so very much- and I was raised as a Christmas-celebrating Christian! I don't understand the appeal of so much of how Christmas is publicly acknowledged.

I prefer to celebrate Christmas almost as I celebrate Thanksgiving, with the addition of getting to shop for fun surprises for people. I enjoy some relaxed puttering leading up to the holiday (picking out gifts, wrapping things, figuring out a menu) but the main thing I like is having a laid-back day that's reserved for spending time with loved ones, cooking fabulous things, decorating cookies, and working on jigsaw puzzles. The hubbub of the season just annoys me, and I avoid it as much as possible.

[audiblesigh]

I ducked out of work for forty-five minutes on the afternoon of the 21st to watch the earliest sunset of the year. I don't need a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to get a spiritual experience from a real fact, that the provider of all organically-absorbed energy on Earth was the dimmest it could get for that moment, and even as it slipped away, I knew it would only get brighter for the next six months.

Only one or two other people were out at the park to enjoy the True Meaning of Solstice. Everyone else I saw was rushing from one department store to another. Suckers.