WORK? BUT IT'S CHRISTMAS!

 

I love Christmas, but even I think this is too much!

I’m working on a new novel. In fact, I’m working on an entirely new series, but you’d never know it by my output here in December. As the days count down to Christmas and New Year’s, I can’t find the focus to devote to building my fictional world or molding my fictional characters, putting words in people’s mouths or setting the scenes they’re in. I might as well be nine years old again, waiting for Santa to come down the chimney.

I’m a bit of a Christmas freak, you see. Things weren’t always great when I was growing up; I had a few really rough holiday seasons. There are two ways to react to that once you’re grown: turn into Scrooge and reject Christmas or decide, now that Christmas is under your control, the holidays will be the best they can be.  I took the second road.

Every year, I go all in on the decorations and the cheesy movies and the music and the sentiment. I’m trying to pull back a bit on the presents—at this age, my husband and I have everything we need, after all, and my kids just need money—but Santa and her elves do get creative with what goes in the stockings. That can include nice little goodies as well as gag gifts to make Christmas morning fun.

We’ll be traveling to see family just before the holidays, too, with a long road trip to see both daughters and the grandkids. My youngest daughter was born on the Winter Solstice, so that’s been an automatic pre-Christmas party every year since. Then we’ll have guests here at home over Christmas and New Year’s.

With all that going on, there’s not a chance in the North Pole I’ll be able to concentrate on work. I’m not the dedicated author that, say, Stephen King is, writing eight hours a day every day of the year except his birthday and the Fourth of July. But then, I’ve always believed he’s able to do that because he has wife Tabitha keeping the emotional and housekeeping home fires burning for him. He probably just pops out of his office for the Christmas dinner and presents she’s arranged, then goes happily back to work. Can’t be that way for those of us women who make the home magic happen.

But, you know, I’m not unhappy or resentful about my December hiatus. I don’t feel too guilty about slacking off during this time of joy and peace to the world. Our minds should be on something else besides the next step on the career ladder. The long, cold days of January will be upon us soon enough. Plenty of time to work then.

Cheers and Happy Holidays,

Donna