oxymoron of the day: "holiday peace"

for so many people i know, the holidays don't seem to be the visions of sugar plums experience that the commercials on tv would lead us to believe.

a friend at church said his life is in turmoil, and the holidays are just adding to it.

another is dealing with a serious illness in the family. there will be a funeral in the next 2 weeks.

another hates wrapping gifts, holiday baking, and the social obligations that the season entails.

i don't know what to say to them, except that it will be over soon. another holiday season will have passed. including new year's eve, that poke a stick in the eye of all the lonely people in the world holiday.

i stopped getting flustered about the holidays a few years ago. it wasn't a conscious decision. it just kind of evolved. i became less perfection oriented. i learned that a few loose dust bunnies in the house over the holidays wouldn't lessen my family's enjoyment or scare away santa.

but i will confess this: i take the 26th off every year. to do nothing other than read the book i get from santa. i don't go to the day-after sales to buy what i didn't get the day before. that mania can go on without me. i'm on holiday.....