And just like that, we seem to have stumbled into December.
December is always a challenge for me in that there are always two competing factors. On one hand, of course, is the Christmas season, with its pageantry and history and a great deal of things that I like (for example, so many good songs). On the other hand is the inevitable rush that all businesses have to the end of the year to get everything done.
It has been this way for a number of years now - how many I cannot quite recall. It was not always this way, so far as I remember. There was a time where work in December tended to wind down, to be picked up on the far side of New Year. We overall perhaps had less time off - a day for Christmas, perhaps a day before or after and then the same for New Year's - but there was a sense that things were drawing to a close to be picked up again.
No more. The business cycle is literally 24/365 and even if we do not work through it, everything in one's power does not make it any the more less stressful.
This year is bound to be a bit different of course: there will not be the round of parties or get togethers, and the ubiquitous "Company Christmas/Winter/Holiday" party will not be making its appearance this year in any number of places. The Christmas Caroling events we went to for Na Clann will not be occurring. No festive decorating in offices, no various Christmas snacks scattered about.
The work, of course, remains.
This is the challenge - I suppose it always remains the challenge: how do I keep Christmas in my heart and in my life when the world seems intent on reducing it to an afterthought?
Yes, I understand that there is cultural Christmas and Christian Christmas and the two do not always intersect. But there is a value in the practice of cultural Christmas: in a country which is often divided about a great many things, Christmas can be a cultural event which is practiced even by people that have no interest in the religious overtones. There remains perhaps no other holiday that can be practiced by so many without much of the arguments and culture wars that seem to come with every other event and holiday any more.
And yet, every year I find myself struggling more and more to keep it.
This year, at least, will be a little easier: I can blare the Christmas carols at home and share my "office" (otherwise known as the tacked on informal dining area to the living room) with the Christmas tree. At least I can find those reminders.
The rest, of course, will be a struggle. Made easier, hopefully, by cookies that I am hoping that one of Na Clann, home for the holidays, will make.
Christmas changed for us the year the kid moved out. Then the family fell apart. It sounds bad... but all the crap went away too. The wife’s family were the type that found religion offensive and any mention of it was not permitted. In my family any number of family feuds and grievances were percolating at any given time. I was always glad when it was over.
ReplyDeleteFor us now it’s a day off. We have a small tree, a couple stockings, a nice supper and it’s all good. I actually enjoy Christmas now.
Glen, our Christmases are certainly very different now as well. We travel back home, so ours is spread out over four households: ours, my parents, my in-laws, and my immediate maternal family. All of those gatherings are kind of quiet at this point.
DeleteI sort of miss the rush when we would have Christmas at our house and everyone came over, but this seems to be the way it is now. I am content.
I've noticed the rush at the end of the calendar, too. We used to have time for training as we were pulling "fire duty"... waiting for the emergency, but no new projects. Not so anymore. It's a madcap mess, and it repeats throughout the year now.
ReplyDeleteThis year is working out to be a difficult one on the personal side, too.
I'm beginning to understand that old hymn better....
This world is not my home
I'm just a passing through
My treasures are laid up
somewhere beyond the blue
the angels beckon me
from Heaven's open door
and I can't feel at home
in this world anymore.
What's the name of that one, STxAR?
DeleteSTxAR, your perception is the same as mine. Things did used to be different (like lots of other things, I suppose). The example I have used to others is that previously work was a sine wave: busy times and down times. The busy times are just all the time, now. I have pointed out that you cannot operate consistently at 110% and continue to get good results, but that gets lost.
DeleteGlen, the song appears to be "The World Is Not My Home".
https://hymnary.org/text/this_world_is_not_my_home_im_just_a#pagescans
My former place of employment, due to the product we produced, always slowed down towards the end of the year so everyone got the days between Christmas and New Year's Eve off and it didn't get deducted from their vacation day stash. I cherished that time off when most people had to go back to work. These days I have any day off I wish so I'm very spoiled.
ReplyDeleteOur family has always had a very low key Christmas. Growing up on the farm, we didn't have access to all those parties so everyday up until Christmas Day was just like any other day, mostly spent in the shop getting everything ready for spring. Probably during my single years I had access and attended parties and such but those pretty much went away with a spouse and kids. We are content to just go about our lives until the day arrives. If anything, we focus more on the Christian aspect of Christmas and attend church more often. It is quite easy for me to forget about the rest of the world until I see the mobs on television trying to bum rush doors for the latest fad present.
Ed, I will say that at least in my line of work, more and more companies have gone to taking the week between Christmas and New Year's off because as other companies do, it is harder and harder to actually do work that requires the input of clients, vendors, and collaborators. It is also a pretty nice perk, frankly: this year as the calendar works out, I get a full two weeks that I do not have to expend any vacation on.
DeleteIn the past, we have tended to attend two parties: one a company party (I have to ones that are both amazing and just average) and one of some level of friends. Both of these have disappeared over the last few years as our children went to high school and college (and the friend groups dissolved) and working at a smaller company that does not have such things. I do not miss either of them, to be honest.
I did go out on Black Friday to run a few errands. Overall things were as quiet as they were any other day of the week. Nice for me; not so good for retailers.