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November first through December 31st embraces the Holiday Season, a complex combination of winter weather onset, Thanksgiving, NFL buildup, Christmas buying frenzy, and day of, followed by one week transition into the new year. Each season layers onto previous ones, and the cumulative result is The Holiday Spirit, a past, present, and future Ghostly Dance series yet to be seen on Netflix.
Past Holiday Season images
uncomfortable family dinners rich with quarreling tone and energy, addictive and indigestible food, and a descent into abject dissociation
My childhood Holiday Season layers form a young adult platform from which I leverage my determination to do the holidays on my terms! Thanksgiving became an ordinary Thursday, and as Christmas Hype progressed, I focused on unwrapping presents piled up through the years, discarded and unopened. Packages like grief, despair, lonely beauty, and suppressed love. Christmas music is the backbone of this season, helping me uncover many emotions, from death mourning to heartbreaking tenderness.
In my middle years, marriage took its turn, meaning I had new family holiday season rituals to contend with. I couldn’t fight the strong christmas tradition and had to find quiet, hidden ways to unwrap my precious gifts of grieving and, sometimes if I were lucky, a dose of body sobbing. Many things brought the marriage to the end zone, and strict holiday rules topped the list.
