Lucy Van Pelt of Peanuts comics fame was known to suffer from a post-holiday disorder that involved depressed mood, aches and pains, and lethargy. I have many things in common with many Peanuts characters, but this time I am all Lucy.
The remedy for this post-holiday ailment was mentioned in one of the strips I read the kids tonight, but that book is downstairs and I am just not up for long distance travel.
In spite of opinions expressed on our local editorial page, Unitarian Universalism is not a lazy religion. The holidays are a perfect example of why this is a religion for over-achievers.
We believe that all in our family are welcome to discuss matters of faith and belief, observing and celebrating accordingly. My son is a pantheist at 7, but also believes that Jesus is the son of God. So that gave us Christmas and Solstice observances complete with readings, theological discussions, and Native American history lessons per his prompting.
My daughter and I embrace Jewish theology and culture which accounted for eight crazy nights of story telling, candle lighting, and her ability to bless the candles in Hebrew this year at 4.
My husband is a loving son who supports his parents in their celebration of Boxing Day in spite of its unknown spiritual meaning for the family. We did enjoy a family google search, though, which determined it is unlikely that we celebrate it for any of the reasons cited by Wikipedia. As his mom would probably say, "It's a good day for a party." And so it was.
And we all love us some Santa. Are you keeping count of observances here? I lost count around December 21.
All I know is that this holiday season I prepared 150 sausage balls, 1.5 gallons of clam chowder, 4 liters of holiday punch, 5 lbs of shrimp, yams that fed three parties worth of guests, 30 dim sum yummies, Muffaletta for 20, Jezebel for 30, a Mississippi Mud cake, a pear bundt, a gingerbread chalet... and I am still cussing because I forgot the latkes. No wonder I have developed a disorder. I am relishing the possibility of an agnostic phase for any or all of us by next year.
Happy damn New Year and leave me alone while I take a nap. I've got to get myself together by Passover when I hope to have the energy to take the tree down.
2 comments:
You need a sorbet year.
The Husband and I spent Thanksgiving - Dec 24th redoing the game room for the kids. Consequently: no outside lights, barely any baking done, no garland on the banisters. We did have a tree, but not a whole lot else.
We are already hungry for Christmas 2010 to get here. We stopped at Home Depot and picked up a clearanced prelit tree for our front room, for next year.
A sorbet year -- quite palate-cleansing.
(Ironically, we did have latkes ... but a week later, eating hash browns from McDonalds, I suggested that next year, we just sub in those. My sensible suggestion was not met with enthusiasm, judging from the vocal protestations coming from the back of the minivan.)
My Jewish mother would have loved you. She had all kinds of rules that suited her needs; no milk and meat at the same meal. But, bacon is okay for breakfast. No baked ham for dinner but, a nice ham and cheese sandwich is a good lunch choice. Of course, when it came to going to temple during Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashannah - she would say in a quiet whisper - it's all a bunch of b.s.
Post a Comment