What Have You To Be Merry About?

Sure, I cribbed the title of this post from A Christmas Carol, and sure, in the scene Scrooge was talking specifically about wealth, but it’s still a valid question to ponder on this Christmas Eve. More to the point, what is it that makes Christmas seem like Christmas?

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit over the past few weeks. As we’ve crept ever closer to Christmas day, I keep waiting for that familiar feeling, the one that I’ve gotten every year for as long as I can remember. It’s the feeling of warmth, safety, anticipation and excitement all bundled up into one, but this year it has yet to arrive.

The weather’s certainly not been helping. It’s been unseasonably warm in my home town, with a lack of substantial snow. I think that’s probably part of it, since the last time I was lacking the spirit was when I was working in Austin. Upon returning to the cold north, however, I was soon feeling much more like Christmas, but I don’t think that’s the whole story. You don’t need snow to be in the Christmas spirit. In fact, you don’t even need to be happy. I’ve long felt that Christmas, though a predominantly happy time, is also always touched with a little sadness. Think about the best Christmas movies and TV specials. Charlie Brown, Rudolph, It’s A Wonderful Life, though they all end happily, they all focus on incredibly sad characters. Think of the most popular Christmas carols. The vast majority of them are written in minor keys, automatically lending them a sad or melancholy feel. No, I think some sadness is inherent in the season, and it needn’t be something to run from.

So why haven’t I been swept up in Christmas feelings? I’ve done all the decorating, wrapped the presents, listened to the music. What’s missing? The answer can be found by going back and examining that Austin Christmas. The snow wasn’t the only thing that was missing. I was there by myself. All my family and friends were still back home. Forgive me as I get as saccharine as the worst of those Christmas specials, but that’s really what the holiday is all about. It’s the warmth and safety of spending time with those close to you, the anticipation and excitement of those times. Without the people, Christmas is just a day like any other. This year I just haven’t done a good job of spending time with people. Some of it was unavoidable; people move away or travel, which understandably means you can’t spend that time together. A lot of it, though, was just me not making enough of an effort. Work, taking care of the new puppy, sleep, they all get in the way, and they all make convenient excuses. In the end, though they are all too often an afterthought, it’s the people and relationships that count. They are what makes Christmas feel like Christmas.

As I’ve written this post, we’ve moved from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. I hope you have someone close to you who you can spend the day with, and I hope you take advantage of that opportunity; I know I intend to.

Merry Christmas!

Sleep well,

DTE

… Is Paved With Good Intentions

I’ll start today with a quick welcome to the blog proper to all my regular Facebook readers. As you are no doubt completely (un)aware, in mid-November Facebook removed the auto-import option for their Notes feature. As such, if you intend to continue reading, you’ll have to follow a link from Facebook over here to Blogger (as it would seem you already did – good for you!) as I post each new blog, or, if you’re feeling in a really commitment-y mood, you can just click on that little “Follow” button over to the right and then you will forever be notified of my ramblings.

Now that that is out of the way, we’ll move on to something equally as interesting – a progress check. As an avid reader, you doubtless remember the list of four goals/routines that I intended to start back in August. Since it’s almost the end of the year and I’ve had nearly five months to implement these new habits, I figured it was only fair that I come clean with my current progress.

A primer for the uninitiated and hyperlink-averse: having recently moved into a new house, in August I decided that it was an ideal time to begin establishing new, healthier, more beneficial routines. The four specific areas I wanted to focus on were eating healthier, being more active, reading regularly, and writing (specifically here) more frequently. Now, all these weeks later, I think I can safely say that I’ve accomplished one and a half of these four.

Let’s start with the most obvious one, the one you’ve no doubt already figured out for yourself. I’ve failed pretty miserably at writing more often. On the surface, the numbers look not bad; after all, I’ve made 12 posts since I wrote my goals, which is more than the total posts for several previous years. Looking a little closer, however, you can see that it doesn’t quite work. Sure I came out strong with three more that first month, and then a whopping seven in September, but all the September posts occurred in a single week and were all devoted to the same subject, so they’re a bit of a cheat. My last post before this one was in mid-October, two months ago. Clearly the frequency hasn’t really increased. I could make all sorts of excuses for this, but the fact of the matter is that it’s just a combination of not having/making time. I actually have a whole list of topics that I’d like to bore you with my thoughts on, but I know that they’re all likely to be lengthy, so carving out a chunk of time for each has been difficult. I had said that one of the ways I intended to increase my output was to fill in the gaps between posts with smaller, faster entries. This is still something that I would like to do, and I already have some ideas for quick, recurring formats that I could do. I’m a little hesitant to commit to a hard and fast schedule, but that may be what it takes for me to keep up with this. Come mid-January, hopefully you’ll start seeing something along those lines pop up. First, however, I’ll have to get my annual Best Of list for this year’s films up, since it’s always my most popular entry of the year.

I failed even more completely on the next goal: becoming more active. I made zero progress here, and in fact may have even moved backwards. I didn’t join a gym. I haven’t gotten out more to walk or play any sports. About the closest I came was on my 10 business trip/vacation to Florida where a combination of 14 days in theme parks and very little food resulted in increased stamina and an unintentional 10 lb. weight loss. Clearly this is an area that requires more attention, but one for which I don’t have a good game plan. Since winter is now upon us, I’ll hopefully get out snowboarding, which can be good exercise, especially when you’re as bad at it as I am, but that will still likely be infrequent. I’m probably going to have to bite the bullet and join a gym. And then force myself to actually go.

The goal I have arbitrarily given myself half a point for is the healthy eating. It’s not that my diet is really particularly healthy, it has improved somewhat in recent months, mostly by cutting down on junk food and the addition of more vegetables. Right now my biggest challenge is the meat portion of each meal. What I need is some good recipes for preparing meat dishes that are suitable for one without too many leftovers. As it is, the meat tends to be pre-prepared frozen food simply because it’s easy, requires little preparation, and I don’t have to eat leftovers for the next four days. It’s also probably not the healthiest option, so that’s where I’m focusing at the moment, so if you’ve got suggestions, pass them on.

The final goal was the only one I’ve actually been successful at. I have been reading almost every night, which has been great. Not only does it help to stave off my insomnia, it’s also just something I really enjoy doing. Since August I’ve managed to read:

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived by Paul S Kemp	Star Wars: Fate Of The Jedi: Conviction by Aaron Allston	Star Wars: Fate Of The Jedi: Ascension by Christie Golden
Star Wars: Choices of One by Timothy Zahn	Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire	A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Yeah, it was a lot of trivial books, but I was behind on the Star Wars novels, which I’ve read since I was in grade 4. Besides, they can’t all be classics. The daily reading is something I definitely intend to keep up with.

And so now you’re all caught up. My progress has been slow and miniscule, but at least it’s something. Hopefully it will increase going forward. Or maybe I’ll get distracted by something else and forget all about it.

Oh look, a pile of videogames…

Sleep well,

DTE