At last, I'm ready
Dec. 24th, 2019 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrI find I have an ambivalent relationship with Christmas.
In a way, it's like the Fourth of July, back when I was a kid. In small-town Wisconsin, Independence Day could be a big thing: lots of town carnivals, barbecues, softball tournaments, definitely fireworks. But the Fourth of July could also be right in the middle of haying, when we farmers were cutting, drying, and baling half of our fodder for the cows the coming winter. And if the hay was down in the fields and the weather was threatening rain, no amount of celebration could interfere with the fact that the work must get done.
For me, the holiday season is like haying was back then--the time to lay up stores for the winter. Like a lot of folks in retail, I make a good chunk of my year's income these six weeks or so. Unlike them, though, I don't get to go off duty when I'm not at work selling. I'm also making, firing, glazing, firing again. Sorting, pricing, inventorying. Setting up and taking down pots, restocking the van. What I'm saying is, there's not a lot of free time for Christmas shopping, decking the halls, playing carols.
(In fact, most of my Christmas shopping happens at Holiday Market--or in my shed, I give my a lot of relatives pottery--which is a very different experience than braving the mall. For one thing, the music is a lot better, and less focused on the same two dozen carols on endless repeat.)
And speaking of carols, back when I still did radio, I had a hard-and-fast rule: no rushing the season. I'd due winter-appropriate music in December, and seasonal--some years, if the calendar fell out right, I could do Hanukkah, Solstice and Christmas shows, though more often I'd have to combine a couple. (The Christians and the Pagans, anyone?) But I'd hold off on specifically Christmas music, either traditional or original, until the last Saturday before the 25th.
So today is Christmas Eve. Market is open from 10 'til 4, then we'll pack up the pots and come home. Tomorrow morning, I'll go sing at Christmas mass, and we'll have ham and potica for dinner. Thursday, the 26th, we'll go back and load out our booth and display hardware. Sometime before New Years, all the presents for family back east will be packed and mailed. And then I'll be ready for Christmas.
When all of you folks are over it.
I mean, I get it. You've been seeing Christmas everywhere since before Thanksgiving. You're ready to move on, and New Years is just ahead.
Me? I'm gonna celebrate the full 12 days. No pipers, no drummers, just me and Denise, the bears and the cats, fa-la-la-ing to ourselves.
In a way, it's like the Fourth of July, back when I was a kid. In small-town Wisconsin, Independence Day could be a big thing: lots of town carnivals, barbecues, softball tournaments, definitely fireworks. But the Fourth of July could also be right in the middle of haying, when we farmers were cutting, drying, and baling half of our fodder for the cows the coming winter. And if the hay was down in the fields and the weather was threatening rain, no amount of celebration could interfere with the fact that the work must get done.
For me, the holiday season is like haying was back then--the time to lay up stores for the winter. Like a lot of folks in retail, I make a good chunk of my year's income these six weeks or so. Unlike them, though, I don't get to go off duty when I'm not at work selling. I'm also making, firing, glazing, firing again. Sorting, pricing, inventorying. Setting up and taking down pots, restocking the van. What I'm saying is, there's not a lot of free time for Christmas shopping, decking the halls, playing carols.
(In fact, most of my Christmas shopping happens at Holiday Market--or in my shed, I give my a lot of relatives pottery--which is a very different experience than braving the mall. For one thing, the music is a lot better, and less focused on the same two dozen carols on endless repeat.)
And speaking of carols, back when I still did radio, I had a hard-and-fast rule: no rushing the season. I'd due winter-appropriate music in December, and seasonal--some years, if the calendar fell out right, I could do Hanukkah, Solstice and Christmas shows, though more often I'd have to combine a couple. (The Christians and the Pagans, anyone?) But I'd hold off on specifically Christmas music, either traditional or original, until the last Saturday before the 25th.
So today is Christmas Eve. Market is open from 10 'til 4, then we'll pack up the pots and come home. Tomorrow morning, I'll go sing at Christmas mass, and we'll have ham and potica for dinner. Thursday, the 26th, we'll go back and load out our booth and display hardware. Sometime before New Years, all the presents for family back east will be packed and mailed. And then I'll be ready for Christmas.
When all of you folks are over it.
I mean, I get it. You've been seeing Christmas everywhere since before Thanksgiving. You're ready to move on, and New Years is just ahead.
Me? I'm gonna celebrate the full 12 days. No pipers, no drummers, just me and Denise, the bears and the cats, fa-la-la-ing to ourselves.