Holding On

The sad fact is, Christmas is over. Done. Finished. I'm still trying to hold onto it, but it's pretty hard. The Christmas music on the radio cut off at the stroke of midnight on the 26th. Never mind, I have a full iPod and can listen to my own selections. I can revisit the Grinch and Rudolph and Charlie Brown on DVD. I can stare at the Christmas tree.

But finally, it all starts to break down; and once you've watched the ball drop and the Rose Parade, it's pretty much impossible to hold onto the illusion.

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My Favorite Day of the Year

Yes, Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day, is my very favorite day of the year. It's all about the anticipation hanging in the air, the feeling that it's almost, almost there, just out of reach. All the last minute things to do, hanging the stockings, putting cookies out for Santa, the children wriggling with impatience. The empty streets late at night, giving the feeling that all of the world's shut down. That everyone's home with their families or friends, safe from the cold and snow. It's an idealized feeling, this kind of Christmas Eve.

Fear

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Ow

Rain, rain, go away... It's been raining since last Friday, and my joints HURT. And it's cold; the heater is on the fritz. This winter is going to be a test case for me and my RA: I had to go off my NSAIDs for the first time in 35 years back in May, due to possible kidney concerns. So, no more NSAIDs for me, never again, nothing higher than a low-dose aspirin. I take plaquenil and methotrexate, and I got a fresh cortisone shot in my knee on the 10th, just to load up for the winter. But I still hurt. And yes, I know this is sunny southern California, not blizzard territory, so yes, I know it could be worse. But it's been raining for four days, and I HURT.

Urban Wildlife

There was a squirrel on top of the gazebo this morning, right up at the tip. He had plucked an orange from the nearby tree and was busily eating until he lost his grip. The orange went bouncing down the roof and off into the void, with the squirrel racing after it and hanging onto the eaves watching it with an expression of "NOOOOOO!!" on his little face. Looked exactly like Scrat in the Ice Age movies.

Suburbia provides an assortment of fauna, including a feral cat that begs at the patio door at mealtime, a masochistic finch at the bathroom window, and even a 'possum.

Birdbrain

There's a small bird, maybe it's a finch, that keeps flying into the bathroom window. Every morning for the past week, it hurls itself into the glass, sometimes hopping up from the windowsill and sometimes getting a flying start from across the yard. BAM! It only does this in the morning, when the sun is shining directly into that east-facing window. You would think it would be dead or at least have a horrible headache by now.

Yeah, It's That Kind of a Day

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Autumn Foliage

The San Fernando Valley is lined with beautiful trees in their fall finery--streets bordered in yellow and rust and red. Lovely, except that in most parts of the country, one would find such scenes in mid-October, not mid-December. So, while my season-deprived soul enjoys the sight, I feel more like I should be preparing for a Halloween party rather than a Christmas one.

'Tis the Season

Now it’s December and time to get in the mood. My personal Christmas tree (a silver Radko bubble light model with Kermit the Frog ornaments) is up in my room, KOST 103’s all Christmas all the time music is on the radio, a candolier in the window, and snowy Thomas Kinkade cottages adorn the walls. Can you tell I love Christmas? I go all 1950s Norman Rockwell this time of the year.