winter solstice meanderings

I meant to write this post on Sunday, but the weekend slipped away soundly and plunged us into this, the holiday span of days when time is foggier and less clear. The solstice is always something I eagerly await, especially after November and early December and all their darknesses (both literal and figurative.) At this point, though its not really noticeable until we are well into February, the days grow incrementally longer by seconds. It occurred to me that this also marks our six month anniversary (we initially planned to get hitched on the actual summer solstice, but decided to move it to the day after to hit the weekend once we decided to have a larger party in lieu of just courthouse nuptials.)  

The Christmas season, yet again, is a surreal time in which I occasionally forget the impending holiday. I think this comes from new and different rhythms since losing family.  Instead of the knock-down drag out of  double Christmas Even celebrations on both sides of the family, or even the smaller visits over the holiday with just my dad, have changed and become less familiar (we still go visit my sister, but usually right after Christmas. ) Instead, for the past couple of years, we've forged our own traditions. Usually Chinese food and a movie with J's mom, then a night in watching holiday movies. Rinse and repeat. This year, we have a couple theater productions thrown in, including tonight's Gaslight performance at Northlight and a fun version of A Christmas Carol with puppets tomorrow afternoon down at the Studebaker.  Last night, for a dip into holiday cheer, we took in the new Silent Night, Deadly Night, which was very low-budget, but also weirdly hopeful and uplifting (also,  a surprise advanced screening of We Bury the Dead, another zombie movie in which humans prove far worse than the "monsters.") 

I didn't put the tree up this year due to living room logistics (there is a metal cabinet in the way of where it is supposed to go, so we are waiting to put that finally together. ) I have finished my shopping, including three gifts I immediately handed over to J in my enthusiasm for him to have them --a personalized "Cat Dad" mug,  a new gym bag, a Welcome to Derry tee. Other gifts have been procured, but not wrapped. I've also been buying treats for myself. Fuzzy blankets. New boots. A fancy tin of tea. Currently, I am drinking said tea and eating my way through a container of sea-creature chocolates. I have seen both a production of A Christmas Carol and White Christmas on stage. In the midst, I may have even gotten teary over one of its songs my mother loved and sang often to us as kids to lull us to sleep in the bunkbed days. Holidays are wild and unfamiliar and nothing what they once were. But we go on.  

There are some good things on the horizon, at least creative-wise if not holistically. This morning, an email that the first copies of CLOVEN are winging their way from the printer courtesy of UPS. While the weekend brought a crazy virulent stream of rejection (like three in one day as inboxes are cleared before break)  I did get updated on a few things that were accepted and will be coming in the new year. I am also progressing well on a new series I will be sharing a little of on socials in the next couple months. (and getting back to the edits on the play script, which has been set aside to percolate. )

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