Aftermas

Brought to you by the ghost of Christmas recently past.

Christmas is finally over. The celebration that began Dec. 14 with me heading off to Missouri in a blizzard officially ends today with Mother Media backing her Buick Le Sabre out of my driveway and heading west once more. What a melancholy day this is. I don’t like parting without knowing when I’ll see her again.

It really was Christmas for me this year, not “X-mess,” as I’ve called it in previous years. I attribute my attitude shift to the fact that I didn’t buy people things this year. I stayed out of retail areas online and off. Instead, I made things. I made CDs. I made a family reunion. I made photos from the reunion into a slide show and the slide show into a DVD. I made memories. I was able to celebrate the creating and the giving rather than the buying, and it was great.

I also got to celebrate being this Christmas. I was fortunate enough to be with family for two full weeks, a rarity for me. I got to see almost everyone on one side of the family at the big party, plus spend one-on-one time with KC and Mother Media, plus play with CNE. I also get to be happy and productive in my new job, cherished by my friends, at peace with myself. I am well, and on my best days, I am good, too. I am lucky, and I am grateful.

Two weeks of Christmas seems like a lot, but I got used to it pretty quickly — so used to it, in fact, that I’ve decided to extend the happy buzz one more week. Anybody else?

Today around the world: December 28 is Holy Innocents’ Day in Mexico. Holy innocents, Batman!