December

Historically, the last 31 days of any given year have been difficult for me. For some reason, this one has been especially hard. I think part of the reason for that is due to the issues I ran into with not being able to go to graduate school. As of right now I have still not gotten over having to put it off. Plus, with the holidays approaching I find life is a little harder.

Also, I have been working a lot more lately. My average work week has been between 55 and 70 hours per week. It is tiring, for sure. But I have to do it. My current situation requires me to do it. No choice.

I had actually started writing about the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately I didn't get back to it due to other things that were going on. I would have liked to have talked about its impact on all of us as well as the significance of his presidency on the nation. But I never got back to writing it because I got busy. I feel bad about that; I had some thoughts that I would have liked to have shared. But I'm not sure it's necessarily appropriate to do so now as the timeliness of the post isn't there. And I apologize for that.

On the other hand, I think there is certainly something to be said for the impending Christmas holiday, as well as the New Year. I definitely believe that advertising for the Christmas season starts way too early. Advertising that begins right around Halloween and continues all the way up to Christmas. It is maddening to see it start so soon and go full tilt right before Thanksgiving. Christmas lights on houses, while pretty to look at, being put up and lit up earlier and earlier. The pressure to have perfect holidays.

It is maddening.

What about the real meaning of Christmas? I'm sure I've talked about it in years past, but have people forgotten what it really is about? On one hand, I think that many have. That said, I do think more people are starting to go back to what it really means, just by the things they do. I think there is a lot more giving and sharing that happens, especially now, where there is still so much trouble with the economy and jobs, etc. I think it is a lot more prevalent now than it ever used to be, and that is nice to see.

For now, at least, I am going to try to keep a positive perspective about the craziness that surrounds the holidays. And I am planning to get through it.