Is anyone surprised that I am glad Christmas day is now past us? I'm ready to get back into my regular routine. The monotonous day in, day out was comforting to me, and this season of parties and cheer threw me off stride. I was counting on the routine to make the days pass at a steady clip while my man is working this assignment. I didn't want to buy anything, I was hesitant to make things, and I was uncomfortable with the concept of exchanging items, even as I was wrapping up gifts for strangers. It was difficult to remain calm, and not get agitated this year, when I was surrounded by the trappings of the season. I really hope I don't feel so desperate to get away from it all next year. I'd prefer to be in a middle-of-the-road frame of mind, rather than riding a pendulum all the way to the other extreme, of buying out the stores for everyone I've ever met. But feeling up to hanging lights on the house and mailing out cards would be nice.
I got storm damage photos from my mother's house today. Over the summer, I told the story of a pair of trees we brought to her years ago. One was a hazelnut we sprouted from a nut, growing in a pot. The other was a long-needle pine that planted itself in the same pot. They grew intertwined, one short and round, the other tall and shaggy. My mother referred to them as Danny and Arnold, after the movie Twins. Last week, multiple waves of snow and ice blanketed the plains states, and the big fluffy pine tree was coated in more ice than its branches could support. A large branch broke off and hit the ground. Of all the trees in the country, I get sadder when those two suffer damage than any other I've ever seen. And this is coming from someone who is as emotionally invested in all the trees she's planted as an elementary school teacher is in her students. As far as I have been told, Arnold the tree will survive, but there was another in her outer park that was totally topped. (I haven't decided whether to post the picture of that tree, since she captured her little dog in the process of claiming the downed branches as his own property.)
I have heard on the news of the major shipping companies having lots of delays delivering packages, based on weather and volume in the last week. I am still waiting on two things that were mailed to me in the USPS. I am starting to get nervous about the delays, particularly after hearing about the theft my friend suffered from her porch. I checked the tracking on the one from my mother, and it dropped out of sight after being sent to a sorting facility seven days ago. I don't know what I should assume. Is it better to think of it as lost, or stolen? The other item has come from much farther away, from my man. The one he sent to the kids has already made it, days ago. In the greater scope of things, it might appear just to be stuff, but I still get a desperate feeling, thinking that concrete representations of good wishes from my loved ones have gone astray.
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