ONLY 366 TO GO . . .

   Or, is it  365 days ?  Not certain since 2020 is a Leap Year.
That is . .x. . days until next Christmas Day.  (Note: Christmas Day).  Christmas season began yesterday and continues for the next 12 days for those who are influenced by the liturgical calendar.  The often-sung Twelve Days of Christmas gets little air time after the 25th.

   Aside from the 'religious' significance of the Season, I now remember rather the . . . what to call it ?  . . . the cultural, the commercial, the nostalgic experiences associated with  CHRISTMAS.  And, of course, there is the collective impact of the music, the emphasis on home and family, the gifts under the TREE, the venerated family recipes , and other such memories.

   As a youth, I thought dusk on Christmas Day ranked at the top of the SAD list.  Another year  to wait !! Seemed like an eternity. Not that the current year's toys were broken or even worse for the wear nor that  all the nuts and candies had been eaten. Perhaps it indicated the end or at least the suspension of the magic and the 'visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads', even long after  we were 'wise' about some of the gifting origins.

   Now as those 365 days come and go in a flash and 'Christmases Past' have greatly increased in number, I often wish that time's pace would slow down a bit to give more opportunities for reflection.  Whatever your opinion may be of retired journalist, Dan Rather, his Facebook post on Christmas Eve seems to me to offer Hope in the midst of our challenging  times.  He wrote in part: "I sometimes   wonder how many Christmases I have left. The truth is none of us have any way of really knowing.  This is a time to . . . try to take stock of one's relationships, with family, friends, and with one's self."  He went on to note that while reflecting on Christmases past, he also feels "the warmth of the blessings of the present.  I breathe deep a hope, always hope, for the future."

    HOPE , not 'wishful thinking', not even magical thinking, coupled with a greatly misunderstood word ...LOVE*... seem to offer spiritual sustenance for making our way through the upcoming 366 days.
  (*not the same as sentimentalism or 'liking' but the conscious choice to seek  others' well  being as well as our own)
     Satchel