Jackie Wells-Fauth
We have reached that point in the year when we face the dreaded Christmas aftermath. You all know what that’s like: when you are sitting in a sea of wrapping paper and plastic wrap, trying to figure out which of your gifts need batteries and which things just have “some assembly required.” And amongst all that, you are trying to figure out how you got to this point.
The holiday high always starts the season off. That’s when you have pulled out the Christmas hangings and the tree is up and full of lights and tinsel. You can’t wait for that first chance to turn it on and light it up and the first time you put a neatly (or in my case) incompetently wrapped gift under the tree, it’s like all the dreams of the holiday will come true.
We proceed through the season, building on that present mound under the tree, keeping the cat from climbing up it to claim the highest branches from the crowning angel. Most of us get the urge at some point during the Christmas holidays — I think it has something to do with the decorations – to pull out the cookbook and make our attempt at some Christmas baking. Now, you can admit it, most of us by the time we get to the Christmas aftermath, have some leftover sugar cookie dough in the freezer or some fudge that didn’t turn out quite right, that we stuffed in a container in the back of the cupboard where we will forget it until it turns into moldy rocks in July. We may squeeze out a few cookies as we go along, but most people don’t get the holiday baking done that they would like and those that do find that their invitations to holiday parties include a request to bring along a few cookies or don’t come.
By the time we have filled out our last Christmas card and gone to our last holiday party, most of us are probably ready for Christmas to be over. It isn’t until the last few days before Christmas that we finally get into the spirit of the holiday, by which I mean church and religious services, family gatherings, and our own quiet remembrances of the season. This is when the true meaning of Christmas– forgive the expression– really comes through, but we have devoted so much time to all the preparations that the all-important “true meaning of Christmas” arrives when we are the most holiday spent.
And then– drum roll, please– the big day arrives. In a flurry of ripping paper and flying ribbons and exclamations, pleased and otherwise, we open our gifts to each other. Usually we have that profound, weird feeling at the end, that even while we’re sitting in a mass of new things, we still ask the question: “Is that all there is?” Somehow, an event this big during the year should come with drums and whistles and parades and elephants and instead of the bang we were expecting, no matter how big the gifts, it definitely ends with a whisper.
Now, I have some new things and they are wonderful; my family put a lot of time and thought into what they gave me as gifts this year. I also believe that they enjoyed the gifts that I gave to them. But there is something about sitting around, in a food-based stupor, looking at the empty tree and trying to determine which of your gifts you will use first and most, that leaves us feeling like we missed something.
I hope all of you in this holiday week are enjoying your Christmas aftermath and that you all have a happy new year; another holiday we tend to expect too much of. As for me, while I am putting away the tree and the tinsel, I am going to look forward to the next year and perhaps hope that my Christmas aftermath next year contains at least one elephant!
dropsinthewell 