Before and After the Storm
One of Wes’s and my favorite Christmas traditions is a screening of all three Lord of the Rings movies (special edition, of course). We don’t watch them all in one sitting (hi, we have kids), so the process usually takes us four to five nights.
There’s this one scene where Gandalf and Pippin are watching Mordor from a balcony in Gondor. Pippin remarks on how it’s so quiet and Gandalf replies that it’s the deep breath before the plunge.
I think about that saying often, as it applies to a great many situations, but you know one example it doesn’t work for? Christmas. There’s really no deep breath before that plunge, is there? Just a series of accelerating situations that bring you closer and closer to Christmas, whether you’re ready for it or not.
While there’s no deep breath before Christmas, so to speak, I love love LOVE the peace that comes AFTER Christmas. If you’re able to roust yourself from your house in the days immediately following Christmas, you’ll find empty stores, discounts everywhere, and clear roads.
Wes and I took the kids to Target on Saturday to buy exciting stuff like a storage bin and a small bookshelf and we practically had the store to ourselves. It was such a pleasant contrast to when I took the kids to Costco two days before Christmas and had to psych my son up for what he’d find when we got there. We went into Costco with a battle plan, which consisted of three parts: Get in, get out, stay alive. There were a couple close calls wherein my son almost lost a limb when a shopping cart careened perilously close, but other than that we were fine.
So now our Christmas decorations are put away, the gifts are all unpacked and organized, and life is settling back down from the frenzy pitch that is Christmas no matter how hard you try to have your act together beforehand. Life is a little less colorful but calmer, which for now I prefer.
I hope your Christmas (if you celebrate) was merry and bright, and that you were surrounded by the people who mean the most to you. My hope for next year is we’ll all manage to find a little more peace, even if it’s just in the form of a half-empty Target.
