-----Clement A. Miles
Oscar Hijuelos' Mr. Ives' Christmas begins with this quote. It gives you an idea of what the novel will be about: religion, Christmas, dark valleys, and sunlit peaks. It sets the tone of the book immediately.
I went to bed at 3 a.m. I got up at 7:30 a.m. I had to play the organ for a 9 a.m. mass. I have not been back to bed all day. Had to get my house ready for the Christmas party of my book club. Cleaning. Food prepping. Gift wrapping. It's one of my favorite nights of the holiday season.
Our book for this meeting was Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It had been a while since I'd read it, so it was a nice stroll down memory lane. Three years ago, I spent a whole year with Scrooge and the spirits of Christmas, so I'm pretty familiar with every word, sentence, paragraph, and stave. And, of course, I have strong opinions about it.
The meeting is over now. I expressed all of my ideas. The chocolate fountain has been cleaned and put away, and the house is back to its normal state of entropy. The holidays really feel like they're drawing to a close tonight. It's such a letdown to return to normal life after the last two weeks of celebrations. There's really nothing special coming up, aside from my vacation next week. Not too many sunlit peaks in the future.
I'm going to miss the light and hope of December. I try to follow Scrooge's credo of keeping Christmas alive every day of the year, but, when the trees start coming down, it gets a little depressing. It's like the manger's empty and baby Jesus has gone on vacation to Disney World or something. He's M.I.A. Tomorrow morning, I have to take the decorations down at work. It's going to be depressing.
Saint Marty now has Lent to look forward to. Fa la la la la, la la la la.
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| Undeck them halls |
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