The sad and the sparkly
Solstice is almost here!
This is such a dark turn of the year, with afternoons turning into night long before I’m ready and gluey black mornings. I have to set an alarm clock to get up at what I regard as a decent hour. The sparkle and colours of Christmas lights in the house are a great pick-me-up with their cheerfulness. On December 21st, Solstice, we’ll have the longest night of the year and the shortest day. Then, in madly unscientific terms, we’ll be headed back to the light. Pedal to the metal as far as I’m concerned.
One of my earliest memories is in snowy Regina. One night, after the Christmas tree was up, my parents turned out all the lights in the house except those on the tree. I was an awe-struck three-and-a-half-year-old, going Ooo. The colours were magical. The experience was so meaningful, I asked if every night before I went to bed, we could have the lights off again just for a couple of minutes. I didn’t have the words for it then, but at this point I can say I could feel those lights in my middle, the intensity of their bright colours glowing in the dark. The lights on my tree now never live up to the remarkableness of that childhood experience, but I remain very fond of them.
Recently, a father and son team were delivering groceries to my house and I asked them how things were going. The father in particular looked stressed. “All this emphasis on Christmas,” he said. “We spend a month preparing for one day and then it’s never what you hope for.” I had every sympathy; we’ve all had peculiar Christmases or dreadful ones. I do notice how happy I am that this year I’m going to Vancouver to spend the holidays with my daughter and her family.
The meaning of holiday comes from the root word holy day. Etymolonline.com says, “The primary (pre-Christian) meaning is not possible to determine, but probably it was "that must be preserved whole or intact, that cannot be transgressed or violated," and connected with Old English hal (see health).”
The most meaningful of gifts are not those we can hold with our hands: health; friendships; the tender and, yes, fraught relationships with our families; the land that we love and worry about; life and laughter; our relationship to the divine, however one defines that. Speaking for myself, I want all of these “preserved whole” and suffused with joy.
I smile sometimes when readers tell me how cheerful I am with my emphasis on sparkliness. Yes, well, there’s a reason I try to focus on the bright. It’s like Christmas lights showing up in the dark. Couples make plans with other couples, people who live in families are busy, busier and busiest. So those of us who live alone look around and say, Hmm, what can I focus on?
Happy holidays to you, my friends, and blessings. Whatever your spiritual tradition is, may the universe grant you peace.
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In another post, I’ll tell you about the wonderful writers’ retreat I just enjoyed with a friend who came to stay in my cottage. She and I have been workshopping together for more than 25 years. At one point in our time together, we did some research that caused us to fall off our chairs laughing.
To be continued. Isn’t this how the best conversations end?
How do you stay cheerful at this time of year? I’d love to hear—
One of my favourite carols.
Thanks, Adelia! I got so enmeshed in writing in my YA fantasy for this last week and a half, the due date on the latest post was like, oh my. Fresh from the imagination, how's that? Appreciate your feedback.
Love this Substack post. This is such a hectic time, and yet it would be so much easier if there were more quiet moments. The weather is an issue too. I just want to curl up with a cup of tea (or wine, depending on the hour) and read a book. Cheers to 2025 to you!