It is almost Christmas and you are exhausted. The presents have been bought and the tree has been up for some time and you have seen all the movies and done all the Christmas things and now you are in the home stretch. Just another night of staying up all night to wrap presents and leave the cookies for Santa and the reindeer food in the snow. The fire will be extinguished and the chimney flu left open as per your eight year olds directions. You have a cigar out back watching the clouds pass over the moon. The world is just about quiet. Almost frozen.
And you hear distantly that people are no longer religious. That Christmas is losing its meaning. And yet you know that this is not true. You are a Christmas warrior and have been training since you were a kid and waited up all night to find your presents waiting for you in the morning. It is the bike under the tree and that ride down the snow covered street. It was staring out the window and wondering how Santa would ever land on the roof.
And now you are playing Vince Guraldi one more time and the fire is burning low and the wife is out on the couch. Exhausted. Exhaustion is something you didnt know about as a kid but as an adult you understand it every well. You mutter under your breath and curse Christmas because it is Herculean in its dimension. And then the day comes and the kids are up early and you are still exhausted but the day comes anyway.
And you go outside and it is brilliant and cold. And you stare at the snow. You are Chevy Chase again at the end of a long long run. Standing there, muttering...I did it.
www.billhazelgrove.com
And you hear distantly that people are no longer religious. That Christmas is losing its meaning. And yet you know that this is not true. You are a Christmas warrior and have been training since you were a kid and waited up all night to find your presents waiting for you in the morning. It is the bike under the tree and that ride down the snow covered street. It was staring out the window and wondering how Santa would ever land on the roof.
And now you are playing Vince Guraldi one more time and the fire is burning low and the wife is out on the couch. Exhausted. Exhaustion is something you didnt know about as a kid but as an adult you understand it every well. You mutter under your breath and curse Christmas because it is Herculean in its dimension. And then the day comes and the kids are up early and you are still exhausted but the day comes anyway.
And you go outside and it is brilliant and cold. And you stare at the snow. You are Chevy Chase again at the end of a long long run. Standing there, muttering...I did it.
www.billhazelgrove.com
