The months of build up, the frenzied decorating, shopping, gift-wrapping, eating, and drinking have all come to a screeching halt. You contemplate the sea of torn paper, the ravaged carcass of the roast beast, and in the profound stillness that has replaced incessant caroling and cries of Happy Holidays!” you can actually hear the sound of pine needles hitting the floor. The tree itself, once a thing of wonder, is now just another leftover. At 12:01 this morning, it ceased to be a symbol of all things bright and beautiful, and became just another thing be gotten rid of.
Woefully, you pat your midsection and begin to truly regret those last three pieces of pie and those last dozen rum balls. Rum-shmum. They didn’t even give you a buzz. But they seem to have taken up permanent residence on your hips, looking like patches of cellulite, only dimplier.
The younger kids have added new levels of crazy to your personal experience with those battery-operated weapons of mass dementia cleverly marketed as toys. The older ones have already advanced to level 15 after pulling an all-nighter playing that hideously expensive new video game system they got, and are now moping around the house complaining about being bored. The cat just barfed up a bow-bedecked hairball, and the single bright spot is that the dog has finally torn the squeaker out of the last of his new toys.
Some folks like to spend the day after Christmas in the throes of retail ecstasy – exchanging, spending, and bargain hunting their little hearts out. This is just a delaying tactic to postpone the inevitable. The holiday is over. Buying a new gadget from Brookstone or returning that God-awful sweater won’t make it last any longer. Denial is not just a river near the Brandon Town Center.
But cheer up, there’s a new holiday just around the corner. It’s no coincidence that New Years Eve comes just one week after Christmas. What better way to lift us out of the post-party depression of Christmas just past than an alcohol-soaked evening of dining, dancing, kissing (if we’re lucky), and making promises we have no intention of keeping?
