TheBanyanTree: Pale Gold Friday

[Margaret R. Kramer]

I love the sunshine this time of year, even though it doesn’t last very
long.  I love the pale gold light as the sun takes its short journey in the
late autumn sky.  My office is normally a dark room, but the angle of the
sun finds its way into this dark space this time of year.  The sun’s short
visit brightens this dark time of year.

We’re on track for the second warmest November on record.  It’s not super
warm today, just 38 degrees as I write this, but the sun is out, and the
wind is light, and it was perfect weather to put up the Christmas lights.

This is my fourth Christmas at this house, so now I have Christmas light
hanging down to a science.  No more dilly dallying about where and how to
string the lights.  I just get out and do it.

I bought a new lighted deer this year and I had to wrestle with that for a
while.  Its legs didn’t want to position themselves right.  I think I got it
so it looks OK.  It’s kind of wobbly and knocked kneed, but it will do.
Nothing is worse than wrestling with a lighted deer.

I got up at 6:30 am and decided to skip the whole Black Friday mess.  One
good thing about being unemployed is that no one expects me to buy Christmas
presents!  It’s amazing how much more I’m enjoying this Christmas, because I
don’t have to buy anything.  The pressure is totally off.  I’m just going to
get everyone $10 gift cards and that’s it.  Wonderful.

Now I’m free to explore Christmas in other ways besides the materialistic.
I can enjoy the music, the traditions, the cards, and the food without
agonizing over what to buy people.  I know our economy would collapse if
everyone thought like this, but Christmas has gotten way out of hand if the
stores are open on Thanksgiving and people are lining up in the middle of
the night in freezing weather just to save $40 on something.

I did end up buying myself an unexpected Christmas present, however.  My
oven has been burning everything lately.  I had a repair person come by.  He
told me that the back panel on my stove is faulty.  When I set the
temperature for the oven, it’s not sending the right signal to the
thermostat in the oven and that’s why it’s running too hot.  To replace the
panel, well, that would cost over $400.  Well, I might as well buy a new
stove for that price, and that’s what I did.  I found one on sale at Home
Depot for $400, it’s also a self-cleaning oven, too, so I think I got a good
deal.  Delivery is December 16, just in time for Christmas.  

I went to the gym and there was no one there.  Yesterday, we were all packed
in like sardines, and today, hardly anyone could be found.  Were they
shopping?  Or just sleeping off the turkey dinner?

The boys and I took the dogs on a late afternoon walk.  I love seeing the
Christmas decorations in the yards mixed with a few lingering pumpkins from
Halloween.

Yes, the day after Thanksgiving is kind of mixed up day, just like those
mixed up decorations.  It’s a day to look back to the past autumn and the
big push ahead to Christmas.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com
www.polarispublications.com
www.linkedin.com/in/margaretkramer

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are
conscious of our treasures. 
-Thornton Wilder