Monday, December 20, 2010

Winterval Chart
 with Winter Chart

Some years ago I made up my own winter holiday because I do things like that, and this year it goes like this:

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
19
EREV WINTERVAL
20
21
WINTER SOLSTICE
22
 
23
 
24
XMAS EVE
25
XMAS DAY
26
 
27
 
28
 
29
 
30
 
31
NY
EVE
1
NY
DAY
2
 
3
WINTERVAL EPIPHANY
4
 
5
 
6
 
7
 
8
 

The Story of Winterval

Radix and Persephone used to always celebrate Christmas with Persephone's weird family. Not that Radix's family aren't weird, but they're Jewish. So thank god that's one less thing to deal with during the holidays, because Persephone's family has a lot going on. Or did, Persephone's mom died on Christmas Eve—the wake was on Boxing Day—and then the following November, Persephone's dad died. "Wouldn't it have been great," she reflected, "if Dad had died on Thanksgiving?"

She is her father's daughter and has a very keen sense of order.

Persephone's father was so super religious that he didn't believe in Christmas. What he believed was that he had calculated the actual date of Christ's birth, and that this was some time in July. Obviously.

Also Persephone's sister tended to volunteer to work on Christmas, so we finally moved the whole damn celebration to New Year's Day. Still it's a nice thing to get together with your family and to give presents, even though you have to shout "Happy New Year" instead of "Merry Christmas." Then Persephone's two sisters decided amongst themselves that there would be no more presents. Except for the kids, their mom added as an afterthought.

"Thank god," said Radix to that. "Christmas is a pain in the ass."

Well, Persephone liked Christmas. With presents. What could she do, though? She was already outvoted by her sisters. She didn't know yet that only having to buy two presents is the best thing ever. And she was hardly going to demand that people give her presents, if they didn't want to in their hearts. She isn't that kind of person. She wants people to want to.

So then it was Christmas, and there was nothing to do. Radix was happy. "There should be nothing special about Christmas. It should just be an ordinary day."

Persephone locked herself in the bathroom and had hysterics. When Persephone has hysterics, it is not a joke. Radix thought that he was going to have to take the hinges off the bathroom door. Or alternately, hop on a bus. Or more sensibly a few years later, get a divorce.

When Persephone finally came out of the bathroom, Radix shakily agreed that there would be some winter celebration chez Munt from then on. Something that respected his feelings as a Jew and that provided her with the feeling of celebration from her childhood Christmases, minus the alcoholic shouting.

"I want it to be like Kwanzaa," she sniffled.

"But we're not black," Radix protested.

Persephone said very crossly, "It wouldn't be Kwanzaa. It would be like Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa goes from Christmas to New Year, like that. Except that I want it to start on the solstice. And I want to eat fried food, like for Hanukkah."

And a few minutes later, they came up with the name for this new winter festival.

***

I still celebrate Winterval as a holiday of rest. Lord knows I need the rest, it's always something this time of year. Though I don't work, how do I rest. I'm still keeping up my blog and still skating. This is supposed to be league break, but practices are still going on because the season opener is coming up fast. Not as many practices, though. Besides that, I pretty much plan on sleeping and eating like a champ: potato pancakes with applesauce and sour cream for Erev Winterval, Chinese takeout for Xmas Eve, waffles for Xmas Day, sweet potato pie for NY Eve, and hoppin' john with collard greens and cornbread for NY Day. I know that the solstice varies every year, and this year is the 22nd. I observe on the 21st, but I light candles starting with whenever potato pancakes is. Which was yesterday, because there's black and white scrimmage tonight. I have informed the sweetie man that a small Xmas present is required. Between Xmas Day and NY Eve is winter cleaning, five days for five rooms: bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, front room, and den. Winterval Epiphany is whenever the first Monday of the new year is, when I have to get back to work. Small w work, not Work big question mark.

Just because you know your plans might change in two weeks, that's no reason not to make plans. If you wait for life to stop spinning so you can get on, you're going to miss half the ride. I have to decide what to do about work, but until then my winter chart looks like this:

SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
PLAY
plyos
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
HOBBY
 
PLAY
League
PLAY
Referee
PLAY
League
PASTIME
 
PLAY
Fury
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
PLAY
Scrimmage
PASTIME
 
PASTIME
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP
 
SLEEP