A CURE FOR POST-CHRISTMAS LET-DOWNBy Eliza BloomNo matter how majestic and enchanting your celebration, thepost-Christmas let-down is a very real phenomenon. We allarrive back to reality a little shaken from all the excess.On Christmas Day, my home was filled with neighbors and niecesand friends who dropped by. My kitchen countertop was filledto overflowing with walnuts, tiny pink peppermint meringues,spicy sausages, smoky cheeses, a strange collection of mustards,and Aunt Bernice's Atkins-approved sugar-free chocolates.This countertop display was a community effort. Each guestbrought way more than was needed, which is a natural thingto do in this season when we celebrate abundance-when wecelebrate the torrential downpour of good things in this life,and so bring some of our favorites to share on our friends'crowded countertop.For a day or so, we set aside any notion of scarcity. Wegive our children new and shiny things. We slather them withtime and energy. For a day or so, we do not scrape and hoardand say this is mine and not yours. For a day or so, we donot say that we don't have enough. We do not say there's noroom in our heart, no room at our table, no room in our inn.For a day or so, we are full to bursting, and not just fromprime rib and peppermint candies.It feels good to know, over the holidays, that anyone wholeaves my house does so with full hands. So I take someTime on this holiday-hangover day to identify those thingsthat are naturally and eternally abundant in this world.Things I can give my guests even after the last Godivatruffle is long gone.What are those things? Today I can think of three. Thereis peace. There is love. There is joy. And it is up to usto recognize that the only thing that can stand in the wayof their dispersal is our own forgetting that we are theones charged with the task.And so we cure the post-Christmas let-down only with adeliberate and conscious lifting up, of ourselves and ofanyone else who comes knocking at our door. Let thatbe our task today.Copyright 2003 by Eliza BloomEliza Bloom is a frequent contributor to many award-winningonline publications, including http://www.momscape.com andhttp://www.BestSelfHelp.comEliza invites you to join her private mailing list,where you'll receive an uplifting message each week.To join, send any mailto:ebloomweekly@...
