'Tis the Season

Several years ago, Tammy and I opted to purchase a small, used, Christmas tree.  Okay.  The full truth is that Tammy decided to purchase the small, used, Christmas tree.  It was a tree that had some lights pre-strung.  All we had to do was set it where we wanted it and then plug it in.

Instant decoration for our Christmas holiday season.  

Now, everyone that knows someone who works in and around academics is aware that the impending end of semester work is all-encompassing.  Once the final grades are all in, a person who works at a college looks up at the calendar and is shocked to realize that they have only a couple of days until the actual holiday.

And they haven't even considered putting up decorations or baking cookies or... whatever holiday traditions they might have enjoyed in their life prior to entering academics.

It is not that other jobs aren't active right up until the holiday - they most certainly are.  It's more the fact that teaching just eats more and more AND MORE time as finals approach.  There often is no room for thoughts about much else.  So, the tradition for the two of us is to look at each other and say, "well if we want any decorations up before Christmas, it's got to be today!"  And that day is often something like December 23.

Once the little tree is up, we leave it lit for the next few months.  None of this taking the tree down on January 6th for us!  After all, it hasn't even had a chance to be enjoyed by then!  And, during the darkest months, we find it soothing as it gives off it's gentle, colorful glow.  It's a seasonal night-light at a time when the nights can seem so long and so oppressive.

And now, as the daylight hours increase, we finally took our tree down.  Our goal is to unplug the tree and put it away around the second week of March each year.  This happens to be about the time one of our Christmas Cactus decide they're going to re-bloom.

It isn't always the same plant, but we usually have at least one throw out a bloom or three around this time.  Our little friend that honored us with flowers this year actually gave us some blooms in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it seemed like it was holding something back then.  And, sure enough, it gave us some bold and beautiful blooms for March this year.

Flowers are a different kind of light that shines during our daytime hours.   The color and form of a flower soothes us in a way not unlike that Christmas tree and its lights do when the night is darkest.  And maybe that's really all we need sometimes - some light to remind us that all is not dingy, drab or depressing.