This year’s current holiday season seems like an easy cruise this year. I enjoyed the calm before the storm, as it were, anticipating Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year as they approached without the responsibility of actively preparing for it just yet.
It took a bit for me to realize why this year felt different. It started with the realization that this year’s Halloween did not feature prep for a next-day colonoscopy (see For Halloween: My Own Personal Horror Show!). This year, while a quiet celebration at best, it beat the heck out of what I did last year!
But, Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas time is here, and I’m feeling very much at leisure, despite the on-going work of the homestead, working to install a new hot water heater, finishing a major writing project, and preparing for the Christmas newsletter (a.k.a. “the Christmas term paper”).
Something must be different this year. Besides the fact that yesterday’s Thanksgiving is the earliest it can be in the roving date’s cycle.

Aly painted this ornament, showing my favorite set piece. Last year’s excitement becomes this year’s pleasant memories (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
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