Holiday hangover

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas today! Mine was very nice. Santa brought me many good things, even though I only ever ask for one or two items anymore, at most. Gone are the days of me asking for everything including the kitchen sink every Christmas. One of the downsides of not being a little kid anymore, I guess. But the themes of this year's Christmas gifts were DVDs, puzzles, and anything French (e.g., French Christmas carols, including one singer who sounded eerily like a French Bing Crosby; this was a CD my father bought for my mother, for the record).

But now that Christmas is over, I feel like breathing a gigantic sigh of relief. As much as I love Christmas and the holiday season, it feels like each year I get to enjoy it less and less how I want to. When I was growing up, I could just come home from school on any given December day, put on some Christmas music, turn on the Christmas tree lights as well as some of the plastic candles in our windows, and just sit back and let the nice feel of the season wash over me. But lately it feels like I don't get to do that anymore, and instead have to have Christmas shoved down my throat at every turn, rather than me being able to find the joys of the season on my own terms. Does anyone else ever feel that way, or am I an isolated case? (And no, I'm not that jaded and cynical as to label Christmas as only a commercial holiday anymore. The keeper of that opinion is my uncle.)

But luckily I did get to spend plenty of time today relaxing with loved ones and enjoying this lovely Christmas Day. It's certainly a lovely feeling sitting in the living room gazing at the lit Christmas tree fully decorated, with many presents scattered underneath. Those are the markings of a full and fruitful day, and I hope everyone got to do this same this Christmas!

So let me close by saying (definitively this time) . . . Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!