Mid-December Lull

So I've reached that point in the year where things slow down. Exams are over, and my life is in that odd anti-climax stage. It's weird because Christmas is coming and everyone is stressed and crazy, buying the "perfect gifts" and making sure the house looks just right.

I just don't get it. It is a cultural universal that holidays are supposed to be times of happiness, but people spend so much time trying to impress everyone that people don't really get to be happy. I would rather see my family happy, in a house that is less than perfectly clean, than unhappy in a sterile environment. I wish everyone would just stop trying so hard. Something will happen, there might be dust on your chandelier or the biscuits might burn. Isn't the important thing, particularly in this time of economic doom and destruction that we just remember that having people to hold on to is 1000 times better than dust-free window ledges?

I'm not sure people see it that way. Just ask my mother.

There are some things about the holidays I will never understand.