2001-12-12 - 11:56 p.m.

'Tis the Season

Well, the holiday season is upon us again. Like, ugh.

I'm not 100% sure how it happened, but the Xmas spirit is all but dead inside me. I mainly find this time of year very, very annoying.

Here's an example of why I don't like the year-end holidays.

This morning I had to drive to Latham to pick up the new comics, same as I do every Wednesday. The drive is much more pleasant in the new car, that's for certain. The heater works very nicely and that's something one appreciates come December.

However, the one way the old car is better than the new car is that it's smaller and more maneuverable. When things get tight and hard to navigate, the CR-V drives like a school bus.

I got to the parking lot at the UPS hub, and it was chaos. The lot was full to the brim and there were all sorts of people milling about, most of them holding packages. Many of them did not look like they were full of Xmas cheer. In fact, I heard one of them complaining: why doesn't UPS open BEFORE 9 AM?

Well, it was to be expected. It is probably the last Wednesday to mail packages so that the packages will arrive before Xmas.

There was no place to park, and this has happened before. There's an area marked "Customer Parking" and the UPS employees park there. Anyway, after trolling around for a while I finally found someone backing up, so I waited behind them to get the space.

When they pulled out there was a woman standing there, smoking a cigarette. She obviously belonged to the car in the space next to mine. She gave me an eloquent look. It said: "I hate this, and I hate being here smoking in the cold and I'll be damned if I will move so you can park your big-ass car."

So I had to park very delicately. It was nice that this lady trusted me not to accidentally crush her with the 3,300 pounds of car I was piloting.

However, I understand this lady's attitude perfectly. I hate the pressure of the holiday season, and I hate crowds. She had the look of someone who was doing something that she didn't want to do. Join the club.

Somehow, for me this season is all about pressure and not about joy. I know that I don't totally hate everything about Xmas: is still like Xmas lights (so long as I don't have to put them up myself) and the original black and white version of "Miracle on 34th Street" still makes me cry.

Lily, on the other hand, is all excited about Xmas. We are going to be going to visit her family immediately after the 25th, so she's looking forward to that.

She doesn't understand why I am so holiday-unfriendly, and I have to admit I don't completely understand it myself. I originally thought it was because Xmas is a family time of year, and I don't have a family but that isn't true any more. I have Lily, who is festive and fun to be around. So what's the problem?

Maybe it has more to do with what a tough year this has been. Maybe this is a phase I'll grow out of. Whatever it is, Lily has been very understanding and has been giving me some leeway so I can say "Bah, humbug!" occasionally.

Also, Lily was talking to one of our galaxy-mates in Planetarion who suffers from crippling seasonal depression. The theory is that it has nothing to do with the holidays, it has to do with the fact that there is not much sunlight and it's cold outside. Sunshine cheers people up, darkness depresses them. That's an interesting theory. It has some merit.

So, for now...

Say it loud: I'm a Scrooge and I'm proud!