Rebuilding Rob

Today is Thanksgiving day here in America. And while the holiday is usually someone bittersweet for me, this year. I am unusually happy. I can’t really put my finger on it. Neither of the boys are with me today for Thanksgiving. There was a chance that I was going to get kid one up here from South Carolina, but we’re holding off until Christmas. In spite of allof this, in spite of Mother being in the hospital, I am very content right now. 

Regardless of whether or not you are Christian, celebrate Christmas, or ever even read the original Charles Dickens novel, I’m sure that most of you are familiar with A Christmas Carol. It is a story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a cheap business man who is visited by three ghosts and “the true meaning of Christmas“. after his third and final visit by the ghost of Christmas yet to come, Scrooge is a changed man. He wakes up on December 25 deliriously happy and being so uncharacteristically kind that he gets strange looks from the people of London.

For years, I’ve talked about how Christmas is such an emotionally intense time of year for me. I’ve talked a lot about the anxiety of buying Christmas gifts – either having enough money for gifts, or even being sure that I’m getting good gifts for my loved ones. I’ve talked about the crowds at retail stores for the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Finally, I’ve complained about the weather, the extreme cold, the snow, the early sunsets.

But there’s definitely something different this year. I don’t know what it is. For some inexplicable reason, I am excited about the holiday this year. It wasn’t a conscious choice I made. I’m not hitting the bottle, nor am I taking any funny pills. But I am just excited about Christmas this year.

I think – and I’m almost afraid to type this because I’m afraid I will jinx this – then I am relatively happy right now. I don’t know that even goes as far as to say I am the happiest I’ve ever been, but I am relatively content with everything in my life right now. Sure, I have problems; we all do. But I’m probably more peace now than I’ve been in quite a while.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts

• Teacher Armor and the Saturday Clearing
• The Extra Day: A Ten-Year Memory
• Of Training Wheels and Christmas Lights
• Charity Starts at Home (And I’m Back in My Childhood One)
• The Muscle of Empathy

The article “feeling December 25 Ebeneezer Scrooge“ first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.