This Time of Year

“Well, there’s a feeling in the air
Just like a Friday afternoon.
Yeah, you can go there if you want
Though it fades too soon”
- “This Time of Year”, Better Than Ezra

I’m not a fan of early January.  I don’t think that I have ever been.

It’s not that I dislike the Winter, cause I do…  I love the Winter.  The colder the better, and it’s even better if there is snow on the ground!!

It’s not that I dislike the sporting aspect, cause I do…  Football is winding down, culminating in a BCS Champion and a Super Bowl Champion.  Hockey is starting to wind towards the All-Star Break, the midway point of their season.

It’s not that I dislike the Holidays, cause I do…  Christmas is by far my favorite day of the year.  Nothing compares to being able to give someone some item that they desire.  I feel warm just thinking about handing a present to a loved one.  The expression on their face as they open it.  There is nothing like sitting down to a small family meal with my folks and my aunt, eating ham, sweet potato casserole, Podnuh’s baked beans, and forty-two types of desserts.

I dislike endings, especially endings that do not live up to their expectations.  How many of us have been disappointed at the end of a TV show or a movie that either ends abruptly (see the Blair Witch Project)?  I know that I have been.  I enjoy closure.  I enjoyed closure much more earlier in my life, but years and hardships on my soul have made closure unnecessary… at times.  This season really does seem to have that ambivalence to having that tight, wrapped ending which I desire.

The “Holiday Season”, which could be defined as Halloween on October 31 to New Years Day, just ends…  like that ring road around the abandoned mall in Elgin, Illinois.  There is no warning.  There is no sign whatsoever to tell you that the season is drawing to a close.  No, it just ends, and sometimes, it ends just too abruptly.  It does not lend itself to end in one neat little package with all the answers and warm, fuzzy feelings.  This year seems to be one of those years.

It seems like it was just yesterday that the tree was coming out and ready to be trimmed.  It seems like yesterday there were Christmas lights everywhere to behold.  It seems like yesterday there was a crush, though muted due to the economy, at stores to find the perfect gift.  It seems like yesterday that we hopped into a car to face traffic on the way to our family and friends.  It seems like yesterday that churches were putting on their Christmas shows, cantatas, and birth of Christ-centric activities.

I’m not sure what it is…  it seems like December 26 to January 1, it’s time to pack away all the festive cheer for next year.  Trees are put up or placed on the curb.  Lights are darkened or removed.  Churches put up their nativity scenes.  We start to travel back to our points of origin with our destinations fading into the rear view mirror, possibly for another year for some.

For this reason, I’ve started a tradition a couple of years ago in my household.  Instead of defrocking my home on the first instance possible, which I have done in previous years, I keep signs of Christmas and the Holidays up for a couple of extra days.  Granted, my tree comes down on January 6 (Epiphany), though I do not celebrate the day, nor have it off.  To me, it’s a reminder that the season is not secular.  It is a reminder that Christmas is more than a one day holiday.  It is a reminder that Christmas is a life long celebration.  It takes me back to Christmas day when I look at the tree, see the lights, look at the ornaments.  It is an opportunity to grasp onto my favorite season for just a bit longer, while the world seemingly races to the next season and the next and the next…

I’m in no way perfect.  I do this little tradition not to make myself better than the person whose tree lays on the side of the road on December 26.  I do it to keep that special feeling in my heart and soul about this Holiday Season that seems to go by quicker and quicker each year that passes.

The Better than Ezra quote that I opened this post with is sadly so very true this time of year…  “Yeah, you can go there if you want, through it fades too soon”.