Silver Bells
For the first time in years, I find I am in a more conciliatory mood to Christmas. In years past, I suppose I was concerned utmost with my impending academic doom than I was with Santa Claus. However, being somewhat recently unburdened with such concerns leaves me freer to contemplate the incarnation and the beginning of Advent. Of course, as I frequently joke around the office, the only reminders of Christmas found in my apartment are some Christmas tunes and the eggnog in the fridge. I should probably get at least a miniature tree to keep up appearances. I'll have to see what I can get away with in the dollar store. I have never been the sort of person who could bear buying frivolity in the form of decoration in the first place, and then only for one season to boot. Still, I am working Christmas Eve this year, so perhaps its some sort of subconscious compensation that leads me to believe that I should make more of an effort this year.
There, the sort of Christmas reasoning that would make Freud or Jung happy. Something about sentimentality immediately brings to the fore the latent psychoanalytic in me. It is also the first Christmas that I will not be flying back to Michigan. Operational constraints at work and budget constraints on my end make that infeasible, at least for the next couple of years. I won't miss the air travel at that time of year, in any case.
Despite my recent Christmas proclivity, there is not a hint of snow in the air for Edmonton, a fact that is only noteworthy due to uncommon occurrence here. I seem to remember a blanket of white easily by this point, but it's the end of November, and our streets remain blissfully clear of the white filth. I normally do like snow, but its status as the harbinger of subarctic temperature leaves me more negative about it that in past years. It may be late, but I am still banking on a white Christmas up here. Whether there is a tree to accompany it remains more in doubt...