Humbug
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: "Is That All There Is?"
Topic: Such Waste!
What is it that makes us go so far over the top to live up to some artificial version of how things should be for a given day out of 365?

Here I sit alone in my humbug corner refusing to do what I'm told by Hallmark and Wallstreet to perform my part in the play. I am content With my year-round Christmas Bear windsock indoors until the storms pass, and my token Calico tree stuffed behind the pictures on the mantle so nobody feels sorry for me and kills a real one in my name to bring it to me, (A lesson I learned too late to spare one tree one year). I stand apart and watch friends and family literally making themselves sick this glorious season as they try to live up to whatever they are taught, told and sold is expected of them. From spending way more than they have to staying up all night because they must "put the bows on all the packages" I hear reports of behavior that most of these same good folks would call nuts any other time of the year.

I think what amazes me most though is the process we follow to set ourselves up for such disappointment at holiday time. What is this scripting we do in advance of events wherein we create the whole scene in our minds ahead of time in such detailed expectation it cannot possibly satisfy in reality? A good friend is taking his son to learn to snowboard this week-end. In telling me of their plans he was relating the schedule in such detail as to tell me what they'd be ordering for breakfast from McDonald's on their way to the slopes and how the kids would feel when they stood up after lunch to what would be said on the ride home. Now there's no way on earth that the reality of this week-end is going to match his plan. And I'm afraid he's going to miss the reality of it watching for what he's decided it's going to be in advance. I realize this is an extreme case, but we all do it to one degree or another. While watching for our expectations we miss our reality. Why?