The End Is Nigh

Well, here we are on the eve before the eve before the New Year. As we enter into 2020, just over a day from now, we'll surely see all sorts of social media posts of peoples' adventures in celebrating the close of one chapter of their lives. Not to mention, probably, all manner of arguments as to whether the new decade begins this year or next. (Spoiler alert: the decade starts on Wednesday. Humans track passage of time starting from zero, after all).

For me, tomorrow is Tuesday. The next day is Wednesday. That's usually how grandiose my New Years celebrations are. I'm not a party person. I'm a social introvert. I don't make resolutions. I don't count down the seconds, while donning a plastic party hat and clenching a noise maker in my teeth, eagerly anticipating the clock striking midnight. I might have a drink.

I'm usually in bed before 9pm.

New Year's Day. It's just another day. Like any other day, it has only so much significance as we choose to bestow upon it. Still, I went for a walk this evening in the crisp 46 degree air, and reflected a bit upon life and this past year. Small patches of low lying fog drifted casually across the path from the fields. Orion stood clear and bright in the heavens. The moon hung low and large, a sliver of a smile in the sky. It was orange.

Several homes still clung to the holiday season, displaying proudly their bright decorations. But most have by now gone dark for the winter. With each passing day the remaining beacons seem more out of place, as Christmas becomes ever more a faint memory.

The holiday season takes a long time to get here. Months of buildup and anticipation. And then it's over so fast. Is it just a metaphor for life? Perhaps a discussion for another time.

Today I un-decorated the Christmas tree. Took the wreath off the front door. The tree now stands bare, naked to the world. Tomorrow I'll probably pack up the rest of the decor. I'll submit to the reality that the season is done. I suppose, more than anything else, the New Year is a symbol of that.

So did I have a productive year? Did it stand out in any way from my previous attempts at a useful existence? Well. Not really. I did however have a banner year at keeping up with this blog. At least compared to previous years. I read a bit, here and there, for my own personal edification. And I survived my first year as a single father. Was that it? Funny how in retrospect the entire year seems so brief. Or perhaps my memory is getting spotty. But it seems like not a lot happened this year. A lot of...surviving. Routine. That fills up a lot of days, it seems.

Oh, also I transitioned this year into making YouTube videos of my life's adventures. So there's that.

What will the next year hold? Who knows, who knows. More days, more weeks, more months. Time will shuffle along. I have no grandiose plans, just to keep raising my son and otherwise getting by. And we'll see where it leads. Perhaps it will be a year of new beginnings. Transitions. Time will tell.

But hey, tomorrow is New Year's Eve! The end of the year is upon us.

Christmas Is Coming

Well, it's now December, and Christmas is coming. I suppose somewhere, a goose is getting fat. Well. Who isn't? After a full day of gorging on foodstuffs last Thursday, and hosting a mimosa brunch yesterday, followed by happy hour wings at Hooters, I certainly feel like I am. 'Tis the season. But Thanksgiving came and went without any headaches, and it successfully provided us with its annual placeholder between the Halloween and Christmas seasons. I actually put my Christmas tree up the week before Thanksgiving. Why not? Just more time to enjoy it. Plus, I know if I didn't get it done, I probably would not have gotten around to it until mid-December. And what a lot of work that would be just to have it up for a couple of weeks. So, the house is decorated and ready, more or less, and one present currently sits under the tree for Connor. With more to come. Well, for Connor at least; no one's buying me any presents to put under there.

Speaking of Christmas trees: yesterday I posted a holiday video on my You Tube channel which featured Connor describing the "proper" way to decorate the tree. Basically it amounts to putting a hook on the ornament, and then hanging it from a tree branch. Or as he puts it, "you put it on your thing". I guess he doesn't know the word "branch". Well, more educating of the kid is clearly necessary. But the video was a good excuse to post some pictures of my Disney-decorated tree, as well as some photos of the two of us with the tree. Our annual holiday tradition. Well, except for last year. But now I have some fodder to create some actual Christmas cards to send out to some people. I don't send a lot, really. But still it's nice to have them.

And with Thanksgiving so late this year, we're now entering the final week of classes at Sac State before finals. Usually we have a couple of weeks after Thanksgiving; I can't recall a time where we came back from the break and it was already December. But here we are. Which means, now, 10 concerts in 7 days. So it goes. Consistent and predictable, at least. And that is where I sit, now, at work with the final week upon us. Lots to do here this week, and then it will settle down. I'll probably be late at work most of this week, including Thursday when I'll need to step in and help run the choir concert downtown. There's just too much going on at once and not enough people to do it all. But hey, the concert should be festive anyway. And next week will begin the gradual slow down, for me, as we plod on towards the winter break. Getting quieter and quieter as each day passes. I kind of like that.

For now, I'm currently playing Christmas music through my computer at my desk. Why not? Everything is early this year, I guess. I mean I know it's not like the stores started stocking holiday paraphernalia in early October. Oh wait - they did, they did. But it's okay, I'm in the routine, in the groove. And Christmas is, after all, coming...