It was a strange Christmas for me. Strange because it was so easy and peaceful. This is the first year in a long time that I haven't been working on Christmas, the first year in an even longer time where my energy wasn't directed toward completing something by the end of the year. Working as a parish priest, there's lots of things on the to-do list with services and programs; as a student or working in schools, which is the way it's been all the rest of my life, there was a summing-up at the end of a semester.
So this was the very first year in which Christmas and the end of the year was not some kind of a conclusion. Instead, my work load remained fairly constant and the end of 2008 has flowed seamlessly into 2009. Everything got done and I kept being confused about it. Gifts were purchased; letters and packages got mailed. I kept wondering what I was doing wrong, what I had forgotten. But it wasn't that. It was that for once the end of the year didn't pile up on me.
On the minus side, it means the new year doesn't feel new, just a continuation of what had been happening before. But on the very positive side, I feel rested and ready for what is to come, and very aware that I have no idea of what that might be. I don't feel I need to recover from Christmas, and that is a wonderful thing to have. I hope you have been able to have that as well and, if not, I pray for a speedy recovery from the avalanche that is the end of the year.
All best wishes to you and those you love for 2009.
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