It is Christmas Eve 2015. I measure time in birthdays and Christmases. In my\u00a0case that ends up being exactly six months apart. Birthdays happen in the summer\u00a0for me. Christmas is the apex of winter. Actually, it comes just a few days\u00a0after the winter solstice which marks the beginning of winter in the northern\u00a0hemisphere but I still think of it as the height of the winter season.<\/p>\n
My mother’s birthday was on the winter solstice. She got a rough\u00a0deal because of that as a child. Everyone always gave her a combined\u00a0birthday and Christmas present. My brother and father and I were always sure to make the\u00a0distinction when we celebrated her birthday though. It must have colored \u00a0her\u00a0perception of the year though, I’m sure. She didn’t have two milestones six\u00a0months apart to divide her years neatly in two like I did. Consequently it may\u00a0have never occurred to her to divide the year up in that fashion.<\/p>\n
Memories of Christmas are mixed for me. Lately they have been less joyous than\u00a0they were when I was young. I think this is because it has become a time of year\u00a0where there are exceptional demands on the finances and money is always in short\u00a0supply.<\/p>\n
In late January or early February I get my annual bonus at work. It is dependent on stock performance the previous year but our stock has been performing well so dependably that I have come to depend on it.<\/p>\n
Then, a few weeks later, there’s income tax return. I had one unpleasant brush\u00a0with the IRS after which I made sure that I always pay more than I am going to\u00a0owe so that I always get a substantial return. This is also something upon which\u00a0I have come to depend.<\/p>\n
I have been making an effort to change my perception of Christmas to more of a time of cherishing family and reflecting upon the good things that have happened in the year that we are wrapping up. It is easier said than done but I am stubborn and so I have hope of achieving this goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is Christmas Eve 2015. I measure time in birthdays and Christmases. In my\u00a0case that ends up being exactly six months apart. Birthdays happen in the summer\u00a0for me. Christmas is the apex of winter. Actually, it comes just a few days\u00a0after the winter solstice which marks the beginning of winter in the northern\u00a0hemisphere but I … Continue reading “Christmas Eve 2015”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kellie.wildroseandbriar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kellie.wildroseandbriar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kellie.wildroseandbriar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kellie.wildroseandbriar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kellie.wildroseandbriar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kellie.wildroseandbriar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kellie.wildroseandbriar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kellie.wildroseandbriar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kellie.wildroseandbriar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kellie.wildroseandbriar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}