2021 has been a weird year and, so far, December has been especially weird. People who know me or read this blog regularly know I love the holidays. But, even though it’s December 11th and I’ve been posting every day in December, I’ve barely mentioned Christmas. It’s come up in three posts, but only incidentally. Our Theme Song was released as part of a Christmas collection, but that post has nothing to do with Christmas. Joke of the Day had two Christmas themed jokes, but they weren’t the focus of the piece. And Die Hard Is NOT a Christmas Movie was making the exact point the title says, so it also wasn’t about Christmas. I just can’t seem to get into the Christmas spirit this year and I’m trying to figure out why.
Part of it, I’m sure, is that I’m insanely busy. I’m working two jobs, taking graduate level classes, and parenting. When I do get a break, I mostly sleep. It’s hard to feel festive when you never take a break. I knew I was going to be flat out until May. It’s OK, but it’ll be nice when it’s over.
Another part, I think, is that I’m feeling a bit less secure than usual. I’ve never been a big planner, but now I’m barely operating 20 minutes ahead of wherever I happen to be at the moment. It’s a balancing act and doesn’t feel very stable.
But I think another big part of it is just the state of the world right now. We’re two years into a pandemic with no end in sight. The economy sucks. The government is dysfunctional. Of course, the economy and government are not really any different than they’ve been at any other point in my life. This is our second pandemic Christmas and I had plenty of spirit last year. So, I don’t know.
After this week, my schedule will ease up a bit until the end of the year. I’m hoping some free time will help. I usually take a month, but it looks like this year I’ll be trying to cram Christmas into a week. Here’s hoping.
