Walking In A Cloud or Dementors on the Loose

This is the flip side of all the sunset pictures I post. Usually, the fog will burn off but this day it lingered longer than usual. I put off walking Texas Jones for as long as possible. The air was thick, wet, cold and the visibility only a few feet. Plus, my mood sucked. There I said it. That’s what I was getting at anyway. Hence, the Dementor reference. If you’re not a fan of Harry Potter (you should be), Dementors are those nebulous things that steal your joy and eventually your soul.  They are surrounded by a cold, dense fog and sneak up on you, freezing you in your tracks.

Above is Texas Jones’s take me for a walk now face which is followed by shrill barking. While I was walking Tex on this wet, foggy day, I noticed several neighbors putting up their Christmas lights the day after Thanksgiving. What are y’all doing to me?

But now it’s the 5th of December and resistance is futile. Christmas is everywhere. Since it’s officially December, I can’t begrudge my kickbox instructor for putting on the rocking Christmas tunes during the sit-up portion of the class. I do like Christmas better than sit-ups. Now it’s not the idea of Christmas that upsets me. I love it in theory and I can even embrace the commercialism. It’s the flip side that hovers above the forced merriment and drags me into the fog. The side behind the merry. The side that won’t be able to be with all the people who are important to me at that special time of the year. My favorite classic Christmas song is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas performed by Judy Garland. Listen to the words. That song is sad. So bear with me Christmas Lovers. I’m going to try to get on your band wagon this year. Because do you know what defeats the Dementors? Happy, happy thoughts. The best Happy thoughts ever. And if you can’t drum up any of those, you can watch 40 episodes of Parks and Recreation like I did this week.

Here is a semi-appropriate song by The Fray which doesn’t mention Christmas.