The Holidays: My Deep Thoughts
Lord, lord, it is busy around here. For some reason nobody's come down into the basement yet, so I'm all alone -- Sam's gone off shopping, for that is his way. He does not actually do much shopping till Christmas Eve. Some sort of Gemini Attack Pilot thing, I guess. He'll come home hours from now, exhausted, eat up his portion of the sacred posole and biscochitos of our people, and spend several hours going through whatever's left of the wrapping paper. It will be very exciting tomorrow morning when I find out what he bought.
Me, on the other hand, I'm all done. I'm always all done by now. Occasionally I'll be knitting on Christmas Eve, but not usually. Nope, I've been ordering things out of mailorder catalogs and online for about 11 months now -- I take a little break in January -- and sticking it in the sewing room, which, by Thanksgiving, I can't get into, so then as soon as we put the tree up I have to wrap it all and get it out of the damn sewing room so I can do the ironing. Some sort of Taurus Seamstress Thing, I guess.
Anyway, I'll be cooking all day, but I don't need to do no stinking shopping.
But here I am, checking in on this lovely busy day, to share with you some of my Deep Thoughts, cause I had some, and God knows you don't want to miss them, cause it's not like I have them much, being mostly focused on The Shallow.
Here they are.
I have long talked of the mid-winter holidays, in all their manifestations, as being about Light in the Darkness. I was happy with this. It's fairly damn obvious, but you can wrest some meaning from it. Good deal. Light in the darkness. The rebirth of hope. Spring will get here some day. In the meantime we hunker down, eat up all the beef jerky, and light candles.
However, this year I have had a Revelation, which is that the midwinter holidays only PRETEND to be about light in the darkness, whilst really they are all about Solidity. Ha! Ha ha! Heavy, rather than light, doncha know. I crack me up.
I fell into this revelation after a few days of preparing for the holidays and enjoying the extended family which is here from California. I can meditate on light all I want; I can celebrate the incarnation of deity into humanity all I want; I can think about how so far the days have always gotten longer after the winter solstice all I want. Nevertheless, the true heart of the holidays resides in three dimensions, as becomes obvious from my non-meditating mental practice these days:
Do we have enough toilet paper? (No.) How many eggs do we need to get all this stuff baked? (Two dozen.) Will the baby sleep for another hour? (No.) Where is the granddaughter's shiny nightgown? (In the bathroom.) Where is our son's Blackberry? (Under the couch.) When should I get the pork loin out of the freezer? (A day before I remembered it.) How many sorts of juice do we need open in the refrigerator if we have three kids in the house? (Three.) Did we really need to clip the cats' claws before the toddler got here? (Yes.) Is it actually possible to walk through the living room when all the legos, all the hot wheels, and all the nutcrackers and santas are on the floor? (No.) What's for dinner? (I don't know. What day is it?)
You see my point.
Why did I never see this before? Silly me. All this focus on light, and divinity, and whatnot. And really, the whole point, the whole time, was Stuff. Not just buying Stuff, though I see that's part of it. Not just food, though that's a big deal. Nope. The whole shebang. We're here! We're human! It's really cold and snowy, but we're not dead! Whoopee! Break out the confetti and thaw some more pork! Then! Let's give it ALL away!
Doing our bit for the cause, around here.
And if you're still around, after all that, I'll send you on over to Skot, who's been telling about his Trip to the British Isles and is especially funny today, having discovered that gangs of little old ladies in England sound JUST like they do when Monty Python is imitating them, and Jon, who has posted the funniest Christmas Cookie Recipe ever on his knitting blog. (Note to all who, like me, already drank up their lifetime allotment of booze: Do NOT Try This at Home.)
And now, I will go forth and observe more Stuff.
Me, on the other hand, I'm all done. I'm always all done by now. Occasionally I'll be knitting on Christmas Eve, but not usually. Nope, I've been ordering things out of mailorder catalogs and online for about 11 months now -- I take a little break in January -- and sticking it in the sewing room, which, by Thanksgiving, I can't get into, so then as soon as we put the tree up I have to wrap it all and get it out of the damn sewing room so I can do the ironing. Some sort of Taurus Seamstress Thing, I guess.
Anyway, I'll be cooking all day, but I don't need to do no stinking shopping.
But here I am, checking in on this lovely busy day, to share with you some of my Deep Thoughts, cause I had some, and God knows you don't want to miss them, cause it's not like I have them much, being mostly focused on The Shallow.
Here they are.
I have long talked of the mid-winter holidays, in all their manifestations, as being about Light in the Darkness. I was happy with this. It's fairly damn obvious, but you can wrest some meaning from it. Good deal. Light in the darkness. The rebirth of hope. Spring will get here some day. In the meantime we hunker down, eat up all the beef jerky, and light candles.
However, this year I have had a Revelation, which is that the midwinter holidays only PRETEND to be about light in the darkness, whilst really they are all about Solidity. Ha! Ha ha! Heavy, rather than light, doncha know. I crack me up.
I fell into this revelation after a few days of preparing for the holidays and enjoying the extended family which is here from California. I can meditate on light all I want; I can celebrate the incarnation of deity into humanity all I want; I can think about how so far the days have always gotten longer after the winter solstice all I want. Nevertheless, the true heart of the holidays resides in three dimensions, as becomes obvious from my non-meditating mental practice these days:
Do we have enough toilet paper? (No.) How many eggs do we need to get all this stuff baked? (Two dozen.) Will the baby sleep for another hour? (No.) Where is the granddaughter's shiny nightgown? (In the bathroom.) Where is our son's Blackberry? (Under the couch.) When should I get the pork loin out of the freezer? (A day before I remembered it.) How many sorts of juice do we need open in the refrigerator if we have three kids in the house? (Three.) Did we really need to clip the cats' claws before the toddler got here? (Yes.) Is it actually possible to walk through the living room when all the legos, all the hot wheels, and all the nutcrackers and santas are on the floor? (No.) What's for dinner? (I don't know. What day is it?)
You see my point.
Why did I never see this before? Silly me. All this focus on light, and divinity, and whatnot. And really, the whole point, the whole time, was Stuff. Not just buying Stuff, though I see that's part of it. Not just food, though that's a big deal. Nope. The whole shebang. We're here! We're human! It's really cold and snowy, but we're not dead! Whoopee! Break out the confetti and thaw some more pork! Then! Let's give it ALL away!
Doing our bit for the cause, around here.
And if you're still around, after all that, I'll send you on over to Skot, who's been telling about his Trip to the British Isles and is especially funny today, having discovered that gangs of little old ladies in England sound JUST like they do when Monty Python is imitating them, and Jon, who has posted the funniest Christmas Cookie Recipe ever on his knitting blog. (Note to all who, like me, already drank up their lifetime allotment of booze: Do NOT Try This at Home.)
And now, I will go forth and observe more Stuff.
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