Cheese Week by Laura Hunsaker

 This is that week where time means nothing. What is time, even? 

In my household we call it Cheese Week because of this meme:

One of the things that threw me off, and had me miss my day (sorry all! I was due the 26th!). I work in a school so I do get a couple of weeks off, but what do you all do with this weird week after Christmas and before New Year's Day? Apparently  I eat too much cheese ;)

I like to leave my tree up until New Year's as well, so I'm literally in my pajamas, hanging out with my dog, watching too much Netflix, and reading all the books I got for the holidays.

I'm keeping this post short and sweet because  I would rather hear from you. What do you do with this time of year? Watch T.V. or read? Do a puzzle, travel? Tell me in the comments!

And if you need a book or two to hit your Goodreads goal, I have several short stories! Dreams of the Future is my latest, and it's a short novella/long short story. But Amethyst Heat is free, it's like 7 pages, and it counts on Goodreads ;) Just sayin'

My Short Stories/Novellas:

Vampires

Time Travel

Romantic Suspense

The West Window by Liz Flaherty

I wrote most of this in 2018. I was surprised at how relevant it still felt when I happened onto it.

Every now and then…well, most days, I look out the west window of my office at the trees and the fields and the big round bales of hay that manage to convince me they are deer if I only see them out of the corner of my eye. And I get philosophical. I’m not sure if that comes with age or experience or weariness, but there it is. I find myself with tears on my face and not knowing where they came from or why they’re there. I laugh out loud here in the silence of this beloved room, yet am unable to pinpoint what’s so funny.

This morning, in this quiet place, I’m thinking about Christmas. I’m not “feeling it” very much so far this year. As long as I’m with family or friends, I can find it in the laughter and music that is shared there, but the feeling leaves me too soon. There is still the blessing to be found in believing, the joy in giving, and the rush of pleasure that comes with lights and wide-eyed children.

And yet.

There is so much depression at this time of year, so much loneliness, so much awareness of what we don’t have. Relationships may have changed or disappeared through the year. Loss might have become such a part of you that it seems to have its own heartbeat. You may try to go back to sleep when you wake in the morning because facing the day is just…well, it’s beyond you. You just can’t.

Yes, you know how lucky you are and how wonderful life is and that soon you will feel better. You get the thing with counting your blessings and faking it until you make it and smiling even though it makes your cheeks wobble and your eyes water. You get all of that.

But now it is Christmas and even though you love the lights and the kids and the excitement and the music, you’re kind of overwhelmed, too. You don’t feel like you think you should. You might be angry for no identifiable reason. You might feel compelled to make someone else feel bad because…I don’t know why. Maybe just because. Your own pain from loss and change you didn’t want may threaten to take over your life and take you down with it.

This is when you need to find your west window, even if you don’t know you have one. But you don’t have to do it alone. If you need help, it is up to you to make the call. It is when you must remember…you MUST remember…that it’s not just you. That lots of people are in the same place as you, even ones you think have perfect lives. The Size Twos. The ones with perennially good hair and always full wallets and kids who behave in the grocery store and spouses who know what they’re thinking.

But there’s fear, isn’t there?—that’s hard to get around. If you’ve been hurt, it could happen again. You could lose all the emotional gains you’ve dragged up from inside yourself in just an instant and the next time it will be even worse because you’ve talked to somebody about it and now they know. They know, but they care. If it happens again, and real life tells us it very well might, they’ll still care.

It’s dark now, a morning later, sitting here beside the west window. The office Christmas tree is covered in white lights but only a few ornaments because I never finished decorating it. The desktop is the same mess it always is, with memories showing up sometimes in the piles, stirring the laughter or the tears or both.

There…as the sun comes up in the opposite window, a deer makes his light-footed way through the field. It’s not quite light enough to see him, but I’m almost sure…but it’s not. It’s a round bale, as beautiful in its way as the deer would have been.

I shouldn’t give advice—I am as unqualified to do so as anyone could possibly be—but advice comes, I am convinced, not from thinking you know it all but from caring about the person you’re talking to. But even as I spill out here what I think you should do, I know that the best thing anyone can do for someone else, much better than giving advice, is to listen.

And the best thing you can do for yourself is the giving I mentioned earlier. Whether it’s gifts or time or just a listening ear or a terrible joke. Take an angel from a giving tree, hang mittens on another, ring a bell, visit someone who doesn’t normally get visitors. Instead of scrolling with your phone, call someone and talk on it. They’ll be glad to hear your voice. If you’re not a phone talker (there are those of us around), text. Write a letter or send a card. The truth is, if you’re thinking about someone else, you give yourself a rest.

So, if you’re having a rough holiday season, whatever the cause, find your own west window and things that give comfort—even if they’re round bales instead of deer. There is hope and love and sharing to be found and I hope you find all of it. I hope I do, too.

Merry Christmas.

We Need a Little Christmas by Bea Tifton

 Caroline Clemmons is a little under the weather, so I am filling in today. 

We celebrate Christmas in my family. Leading up to the big day, my mother and I have several things we like to do. Mom and I love Christmas decorations. LOVE them. We have way too many of them, but still we buy more. Since we combined households, it looks like Christmas threw up in our house as we drag box after box out of the garage. My poor father was a bit of a minimalist, but he gritted his teeth and didn't say anything. This year I have replaced our not so great tree with a new, more realistic looking one. We have to have artificial because everyone in the family is allergic to the real ones. But we cover our tree in ornaments, unwrapping memories and telling stories as we decorate. 

One year at my parents' house, we were decorating a tree we'd had for many years. There was a terrible noise, and the tree pulled out of its base with a groan and fell over  onto the hard tile. Beloved ornaments shattered. My mother had tears in her eyes as Dad and I scrambled to same the ones we could. After that, even with the new tree, Dad secured it to the wall. 

Even our yard is decorated. My father did a wonderful job with that. In recent years we had a younger,  more spry man put up the actual house lights, but Dad took care of the lawn decorations. We don't use those inflatables, but we had two lighted deer, one that moves, an angel, and some lighted candy canes. The candy canes came from a neighbor who was tired of them. They were the older, bigger, well made ones. Mom had wanted some for years and I was proud of my acquisition. The yard looked fabulous. One night, someone stole all of the candy cane lights. They came back for the angel the next night but my dogs barked and the thieves dropped it. Mom was crushed and we were very disappointed. My neighborhood usually doesn't have problems with theft and we felt so violated. The following year I bought some new candy canes to replace the original ones, but they were newer, smaller, and not as well made. This year, I'm not sure I can get everything up and running but we do have the house lights connected and on a timer. 

Mom and I love to drive around looking at Christmas lights. There is an older, wealthy neighborhood close to us and each year there is a house tour. We like to drive through the neighborhood and look at all of the beautiful displays. In the next town, there is a neighborhood famous for their Christmas lights. People come from miles around to see them and the entire neighborhood participates. Displays run from quirky to traditional and there are even some Hanukkah lights. The houses are beautiful, many of them what I would call mansions, and there are several people with hot chocolate or popcorn stands. It's free and there's such a fun small town feel in the middle of a bustling metroplex. 

There are several stores that have huge Christmas inventories. Mom and I love to stroll through each year just looking. We usually do end up buying one or two new ornaments. What can I say? It's a sickness. 

The entire family watches Christmas movies. There are several we never miss, such as the original Miracle on 34th Street and the Muppet Christmas Carol. Dad and I both love A Christmas Carol and we drove Mom crazy by watching every version we could find. Mom loves the Hallmark Christmas movies and we try to watch a lot of them. 

This year, we aren't sure what we are doing. We're going to be somewhat subdued. We lost my father in late May and we're still heartbroken, of course. It seems strange to just do what we always do and thinking of past Christmases make us sad at this point. Some day we may be able to smile as we remember my father but this year, feelings are still too raw. And my mother's  grief for her own parents and other people we've lost has been sharpened. We will do something just to maintain some sense of normalcy. One thing this year has taught us is that we never know how much time we will have together so we need to take time to celebrate these occasions as they come. And to celebrate each other by spending time together. 

What traditions do you have leading up to whatever holiday you celebrate in December? Leave a comment below. 

Photo Credits:

Pexels.com

Nick Collins "Shallow Focus Photography of Green Christmas Tree"

Cottonbro Studios "Facade of a House with Christmas Decorations"

Natalia S "Festive Christmas Lawn Display with Lights"

Magaly Taboada "Festive Christmas Wreath on Green Door"

Pixabay "Four Yellow Lighted Candles"

Cottonbro Studios "Christmas Socks Hanging at a Fireplace"