The "In Between" Time...

Suddenly, It's Here...

Now that my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, has come and gone, we've reached the time period which immediately shifts us into Christmas/New Years mode: The "In Between" time. Merely one week ago, we were busily getting the Turkey Day decor set, replete with miniature pilgrims, native Americans, and the ubiquitous gobblers. Now, after spending the past couple of days "de-Thanksgiv-ifying" the place, we're literally decking the halls with boughs of whatever we pull up from the basement and various lights and candy canes and snowmen that we must take outside in the cold and blustery winds that howl about this time of year, and string them and plug them in and suddenly be overwhelmed with the holiday spirit! (Not sure about this last sentence structure, but it's how I'm feeling right now!)

And, of course, it's during this "In Between" time that I first begin to realize that I have not given one thought toward Christmas shopping, although that's nothing too unusual for me. In the past, I've boasted that I don't start my shopping until Christmas Eve. (Truth is, I've never actually been that late in starting, but not by much.) On top of that, my wife's birthday is December 10th, really adding to the mix and growing confusion of this "In Between" time. Fortunately, I'm retired and don't have the day-to-day anxieties and responsibilities of having to be somewhere at any specific time. I'm usually pretty good working under some time constraints, but I'm not a shopper, nor a very good gift-giver, nor a person who's imbued with the holiday spirits. Yes, I enjoy having my iPod full of traditional Christmas songs (There's one playing as I type this), and I enjoy the winter change in the weather.

As a writer, I find this time of year more motivating, and the worse the weather, the better it seems I get the words to come out in some semblance of order and sense. It seems that much of what goes on during the "In Between" time kick starts me and shakes me out of my recent doldrums and lack of getting much of anything good written. And though there's no drizzle or mist or snow outside right now, there is that constant wind and the ominous gray skies of a late-afternoon in northern Illinois.

 Thus, the "In Between" time isn't really a bad period--except when there's still all those lights and decorations to deal with. And there's still the "pressures" of finding just the right birthday and Christmas gift for my wife. Right now, though, I'm going to turn up the iPod and fix myself a hot coffee and think about going downstairs and getting those lights and extension cords. Before it's dark, perhaps I'll muster up the gumption to take them outside and finish our decorating...here in the "In Between" time. Cheers!...MLA