Post-Christmas Creepiness

There's something about the time between Christmas and New Year's that has always given me the chills. There's a stillness coupled with latent worries, overstress and unrealized holiday cheer that really creeps me out. There's still cheer inside of us all but nobody knows quite when to use it; like the leftover Eggnog in the fridge; it's around and available to drink but do you really wants to be the one to test it and see if it has gone sour.

And believe me, my "Eggnogg" is about ready to turn.

I like Christmas. A lot. I always have. But the brightly coloured decorations, fresh baked goods, and the constant barrage of family and friends gathering to do no more than bestow good wishes and cheer and merriment onto one another loses its appeal sometime between the first yearly re-telling of my family's first Canadian Christmas and the unwrapping of the last present on Christmas morning.

I would prefer a condensed Christmas; maybe three days in total instead of the de rigeur of celbrating "the holidays" from Thanksgiving until the end of the year. Come to think of it, I wold prefer to move Christmas to April. The end of the year is busy enough, without having to deal with Christmas on top of everything.

But alas, this is the way it is. Damn you Roman Calendar system!!! So we must deal with these next few days with great care. Look around you. People are tense. They are frazzled. They are hurried. They are broke. They don't want to be the one to snap. But they could. That one accidental shove; that one brisk brush past could turn their holiday cheer into horror.

Horror through a glare that can break glass. Horror through a dirty muttering under their breath that could make a sailor blush. Horror that is so sickeningly fake sugary sweet that even the brutal barrage of anger would be better. These are the horrors taht lurk around every corner over these next few days. If you are honest with yourself you know that you have been both the victim and the perpetrator of these horrors in the past. But don't be too hard on yourself.

You are a victim of your surroundings and everyone's Eggnogg has to turn sometime.