Wrapping Up The Season

I'll admit it - the holiday season is my favorite time of the year. Now, before you attack me for starting a "War on Christmas" by my use of "holiday" rather than "Christmas," please know that I consider Thanksgiving to be a key part of the season, one with a separate identity that's just as important as Christmas Day.

As my friends and colleagues know, my main Christmas obsession is with Christmas music. For the past five years, I've compiled a special Christmas CD, one that includes some well-known chestnuts but mostly focuses on obscure songs by sometimes obscure artists that most people (including me) have never heard in their lives. My general rule of thumb with Christmas music is that it goes away on the day after Christmas, but as the years have gone by, it's become a hard rule to keep. I spend a lot of time with these songs - for example, I've already compiled a working list of songs for next year's CD, and sometime around mid-October I'll begin the task of sequencing - which may not sound like a big deal, but you have to remember you're dealing with an obsessive here. It's a big deal.

So I'll miss the music, and have a hard time getting Christmas songs out of my head for the next few weeks. But most of all, I think I'll miss the lights. The picture above is of our family (TV) room, taken shortly after midnight a few days after Christmas. There's something very peaceful about sitting in a room, late at night, that is illuminated by nothing more than Christmas lights.

So, farewell season...and we'll see you again in about 11 months.