The final days before Christmas seem to radiate their own manic energy. The hustle and bustle of the commercial crush of Christmas leave all of us bleary and weary from shopping overload.
Fortunately for me, I do my holiday shopping online, thus avoiding the breadth and tonnage of the traffic gridlock at shopping centers.
But enough folks still do brick-and-mortar shopping to make shopping center parking more constricted than a cholesterol-clogged artery. It’s easier to escape from Berks County Prison than from some parking lots.
Those holiday shoppers simply cannot have their spirits filled with a giddy Christmas glow. Which is starkly evident by the bah humbug grimaces on their sour pusses.
Outside of the shopping hassles, Christmas is sweeter than candy canes. I don’t know whether anyone can actually quantify it or thoroughly explain it even after delving into the depths of theology and sociology, but Christmas has a magical quality — spiritual and secular — like no other time of the year.
In a calendar year chockfull of special events and other religious celebrations, Christmas remains the High Holy Day of Joy.
Wherever you are and whoever you are with, savor the spirit of the season and soak up the good tidings.
There is something about Christmastime that moves some of us like the clarinet glissando in Rhapsody in Blue. Christmas has a singular capacity to string families and friends tighter.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Stuffed with calories and holidays just like days of yore. Sip eggnog with family and faithful friends dear to you. And unless you have a voice that sounds like a cat scratching a blackboard, sing a few Christmas carols.
Which brings me back full circle to Christmas shopping. When fellow shoppers and cranky retail clerks are aggravating you more than your dog knocking over your Christmas tree, hum a few carols to yourself to elevate your mood. That’s a dead-bolt lock to soothe you and grant you the wisdom to shop exclusively online next Christmas.
Mike Zielinski, a resident of Berks County, is a columnist, novelist, playwright and screenwriter.