Christmas

My second Christmas as a "single" man, separated from my wife, divorce papers filed, still secure in the knowledge of my daughters' affection, still with Erin by my side. Heard on NPR the other morning that the idea that suicides go up during the holidays is a myth--they actually go down. No one seems to know how that myth got started but I've been aware of it all my life.

Ain't no danger of me cashing out this time of year: got to spend a lot of time with Lib & Lee and DaBoys just a few days ago; leaving tomorrow for Green Bay for a week with Erin's (large) family that includes watching the Pack in Lambeau, numerous FamFunctions, watching college bowls, gift exchanges, partying and the like. In all, lots of fun. Have also received a number of Christmas greetings from former students via email and from distant relatives and older friends via snail mail.

Wife Marge leaves with lifelong friend Ginny today for New Zealand, where they will meet up with daughter Meggie and friend for a couple weeks of travel together. Lee's family arrives from Wisconsin tomorrow to spend time with them and DaBoys.

So everyone is busy, at least, and with someone they love, which is important any time of year but especially so now, I think, for anyone raised in the Culture of Christmas, regardless of the depth of their belief or the form it may take.

Because Christmas for most of us is about charity, tolerance and hope; about forgetting what we've done and concentrating on who we are and what we hope to do--not in the future but each day--with and for those we love. It's also about trying to understand those we don't love--or maybe even despise--and forgetting what they've done, in the hope that they might do the same for us, remote though we think the chances of that are. It's the attempt that's important, so that maybe this year we can make charity, tolerance and hope last until spring at least, maybe summer.

Thanks to all who have corresponded with me in some form this season; my apologies to any who may be disappointed by the absence yet again of an analog Christmas card from me--I'm afraid I'm digital and web based from now on. Be assured that if you use the email address in this blog to reach me I'll reach back, regardless of season. Thanks, too, to a few strangers who have commented on these ruminations since they began in the fall.

With all that it implies, in the full awareness of my GodBlog, casting PC nonsense to the wind, accept my sincere wishes for a

Merry Christmas.