Christmas is officially over and now we are ready to ring in the new year. There is an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed, and a rather large elephant at that, I might add. It has become increasingly apparent to me that during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve/Day, there is an awkward feeling in the air; do you still listen to Christmas music?
No, that’s just silly and far too festive, because Santa Claus is not coming to town now. I certainly don’t want to hear about how all I want for Christmas is a hippopotamus (only a hippopotamus will do, if you were wondering). Can I watch a Christmas movie? No, those are for Christmas and this is no longer Christmas season. It would seem as if the only one I can really watch is "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" and literally no one likes that movie because of that God-awful vulture in the movie; come on, you know the vulture I’m talking about – you just won’t admit it.
This week might be more awkward than that one relative that thinks you’re still with your ex that you broke up with three years ago; no idea how to respond and just kind of wait until the awkwardness is over. What makes this week most awkward is there is so much anticipation leading up to Christmas, then the New Year is just kind of thrown in there as a line to be able to finish up that song, “We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.” Oh yeah, by the way, have a happy New Year, I guess. I suppose that this is a justifiable awkwardness given that Christmas is about gift giving and receiving, Santa Claus, ginger bread houses (that never turn out right…), candy canes, Christmas music, amazing food (well, at least some of it) and just an awesome month of anticipation for the holiday.
New Year’s Eve gets a whole six days to prepare for, and there are no fun songs, fantastic movies or really great food (pizza and wings, meh). Don't even get me started on the actual celebration of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day; all the fun stuff happens the night before, on the actual holiday all that happens are lame movie marathons on AMC and we eat collard greens and black eye peas – gross. It would seem as if we are burned out from all the festivities between October and December, for those of you who are like me and get entirely too excited over Halloween. Have we partied too hardy? Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing the cheesy “page 1 of 365” as much as the next guy (if the next guy liked getting root canals for fun), but I personally just don’t get all that excited over the new year.
In all reality, I’m just really thankful for the holiday season as a whole, it brings family back together, even if it reminds us why we love each other from a distance. Maybe this awkward week in between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is just what we need to unwind for just a minute and enjoy the lack of fattening foods; maybe we can even just enjoy a quiet moment with a good cup of coffee and a book (or just Netflix). Perhaps this awkward week is something needed, so take a moment to yourself and enjoy the quiet, enjoy the lack of things to do; but for the love of all that is pure and wonderful, take down the Christmas tree.
