All in Good Cheer...once per year (?) 'tis the Season: Circa, a few months on.

Cheer after jeer, comes once per year...where ya' been lately? As in the conversation I had with a custodian of a school, a few weeks before Christmas, a few years ago, wherein he asked "Do you think it's rude that I return the gift cards that some of the staff gave me, who hardly acknowledge me, make me feel invisible most of the year, indicating "Thank you but instead if you'll just say hello and occasionally thank me for my service", that would suffice...?" Classy I think, what about you? So much pretense we put on for a few weeks, many of us a few hours, after which we return to...? A reminder of the earlier post(s) here regarding how, early in the pandemic, we came out in droves in support of all the frontliners, especially the health care workers who, while being 'called' into their respective services, found their recent experiences in the ER's, ICU's, any units where the perils of COVID were being experienced in numbers and intensity (i.e., having to make decisions regarding their sparse life-saving and life giving resources at a rate exceeding any training they had received in health care academies as well as on-the-job triaging). While they welcomed the food and early accolades, all they themselves requested, what they want again this Christmas, is simply for you and I to take the best care of ourselves, to avoid coming under their care...including getting vaccinated, given the FACT that the vast majority finding their way (patients, that is) into their critical care units are largely the unvaccinated, who also fare the worst throughout their stay, and after if they are fortunate enough to return to their respective families. Let's also not forget here about all the other service people who continue to do their jobs, who diligently provide deliveries in all weather, cleaning of all surfaces and receptacles (including all sanitation workers), cashiers (largely underpaid for their ongoing exposure to both germs and rude behavior), ET AL! Some of whom are accustomed to receiving some seasonal salutations in the form of gift cards, food items, many times from people they have not actually met, who would be hard put to identify them otherwise, given that we hardly give them a second glance. I'm sure they enjoy these gestures of seasonal good will but collectively testify they are sustained by our friendliness and other, simpler gestures of appreciation throughout the WHOLE YEAR; not being Ghosted, invisible. 

Rain, snow check, return to sender, comfort and joy: "On the first day of Christmas..." What about "On the first month of the year..."? Well, some of you will point out that many gifts are geared this way, gifts that keep on giving on a monthly basis, like "wine of the month", etc. Gift exchanges, like good cheer, tend to be around special events, after which the afterglow tends to fade. How do we keep it alive, sustain it longer, create a stronger and longer lasting 'tailwind?' Well, one way is to try and 'titrate' your exchanges in such a way that you don't 'overdose', get overwhelmed by support, good cheer, and then hardly at all the rest of the year, leaving you longing, wanting...Such as what I even suggest to those who, while in the midst of grief due to a loss, find themselves in a lot of company, good intenders, offers of "let's get together, call me, don't hesitate...". I suggest in particular that, in addition to the memorial cards, those that contain a brief bio and some fond reflections, they also have at the ready cards that have something like "I'm going to call you in one month...even six months, at a time when I really need it, when I am no longer surrounded by a throng of supportive people". If they feel a bit awkward in doing so, I simply remind them that they themselves would want the individual whose comfort they are about to put on moth balls, to return the request, which they themselves would readily honor, feel honored in such tender times. I also readily recall when my sister's children were quite young (and, now that I think about it, my children's children...) she realized she may have overbought, that they seemed a bit overwhelmed with what they found under the tree (pole, if you are "Festivus" folk, see 12/3 plus "Seinfeld" 12/18/97), and putting away her inner child for a moment and unwrapping her emerging motherly wisdom, decided (as I kinda' recall it) to "...start celebrating our own twelve days..." by quietly, with a bit of elf stealth, hide some of the presents and bring them out (I think she may have told me she made it into a game, a kind of  present hide-and-seek) on rainy days, or days the child's demeanor was overcast, extending the joy (not sure she ever told them they were actually presents meant for December, which became deferred compensation, something we as adults have likely experienced). As for the rest of us, deferred, for another day, next post, "Third Day"...do I really think I can come up with "Twelve" here...? Come back and see..."Do you see what I see🎝?" 

Coming Holiday Attractions:  Broken Toys, Brokenness' -- there's a lot to unpack here                                                                               Christmas 'Stalled', Shelved -- how Rud!

Can't wait, eh? Stay tuned and in good cheer, good behavior, as someone's checking lists once, twice...