never be anything but loud
Hark How the Bells!
It’s no secret that there is a plethora of Christmas music available. Any artist worth their caliber always has to put out at least one Christmas album, if not multiples. And there are compilations, ranging across all genres. Radio stations turn the switches to around the clock holly jolly before you even get the table cleared from Thanksgiving (sometimes sooner!). Even Pandora has numerous stations that you can choose, ranging from classic Christmas tunes to Rockin’ Holidays and Country Christmas.
Needless to say, there is enough cheer available and even the grumpiest Scrooge should be able to find something to fit their tastes.
I love Christmas music but only at Christmas (i.e. the time AFTER Thanksgiving and before New Year’s – anytime before or after and we are no longer friends). I love all types, from the bubbly Rockin’ Around the Christmas tree to the smooth crooning of Bing Crosby. But it never fails, year after year, that I come back to the same few albums that just get played over and over.
Preparations …
Did you know that the Twelve Days of Christmas does not, in fact, start the twelve days before Christmas? Rather, it begins on Christmas Day and ends on the evening of January 5th, known as Twelfth Night, which is then followed by the Feast of Epiphany.
This seems rather festive to me and makes me a bit happy because I wouldn’t mind a reason to extend the Christmas celebration through the last week of December. As it is, my decorations usually don’t come down until well into the first few weeks of January (late enough to not feel like we’ve rushed through the season but early enough to not feel like we’re THOSE people with our decorations up in March).
I like the idea of an extended celebration because I always feel like there’s so much we do to lead up to Christmas and then BAM, it’s all over in one day. If there’s ever a feeling of letting the air out of balloon, it’s Christmas Day (and Thanksgiving, too, because it seems you do all of that cooking only to finish eating in an under an hour). It’s always a GOOD day but it’s always over so quickly in my mind, especially with all the work I’ve put into it.
It’s Coming on Christmas …
NINE DAYS until Christmas?! It feels like just yesterday I was putting up the tree when in actuality, it’s been up for over three weeks. As I say at least once a month, time sure does fly when you’re having fun.
I read somewhere that the reason it feels like time passes so quickly is because when you’re five, for instance, a year is equivalent to twenty percent of your life whereas when you’re fifty, a year is equivalent to two percent. This seems to make sense. I also read – can you tell I’m doing research on this? – that it’s actually routine that makes time go faster because it prevents you from recognizing milestones and reveling in the little things, thus events blur together. This also makes sense.
Either way, what I wouldn’t give for the days of my youth when the time leading up to Christmas felt like it took FOREVER! As an adult, it feels like a mad rush to DO ALL THE THINGS! and make everything perfect so you can have a beautiful and wonderful Christmas.
December Poem
Am getting a late start this month, sorry y’all!
Winter-time
Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.
Before the stars have left the skies,
At morning in the dark I rise;
And shivering in my nakedness,
By the cold candle, bathe and dress.
Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.
When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
Its frosty pepper up my nose.
Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake,
Are frosted like a wedding-cake.
Thankful!
It’s Thanksgiving morning and I’ve been up since the butt crack of dawn because my dogs don’t know the meaning of “day off” or “sleep in”. Nor do they understand that Mama was up until 2am playing Call of Duty so she needs her rest.
But that’s not complaining because it’s not a day to complain. It’s actually rather refreshing having an alarm clock that forces me out of bed to be productive. This morning, I’ve done what I’m sure the rest of the United States has – ate a small enough breakfast to stave off hunger but not big enough to ruin my appetite, made myself look human with some makeup and pretty jewelry, stood in my closet deciding if sweatpants (ELASTIC WAISTBAND PEOPLE!) would be appropriate to wear to dinner but ultimately decided jeans were going to suffice as my midway point, watched some of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and prepared my dish to bring to dinner at my parents (which is really just sausage cheese balls and is really being prepared because I made them a few weeks ago and have been craving them ever since).
In an hour or so, after the balls are ready and we’ve made our prospective phone calls to family and friends, we’ll head over to my mom’s to eat delicious food, drink some booze and then fall asleep on the couch watching football.
Can’t get more American than that!
