Christmas

Well, it's almost 1 pm, it's 80 degrees outside and I've already eaten multiple servings of a salmon avocado pasta which served to keep the leftover salmon and aging avocados from going to waste. I figure the tamales I brought home from a work potluck will last until tomorrow so I don't need to try and finish those today. I can't freeze them because the freezer is full of meats, frozen dim sum, pierogis, what have you all purchased in bulk on sale. And the overall carb load would likely induce a sugar rush food coma. Such is the state of my Christmas holiday.

At least I didn't have to work today. Juggling various part time jobs with one that has me on a 6 day work week on the swing shift during the holiday peak season has really disrupted my sleep schedule. As it was, I only slept through an entire night on my two days off each week and on the other days I've slept in staggered 2-4 hour naps throughout the day and I've managed to be functional. But I've made an effort to go to sleep earlier during the holidays and get more rest and I've actually been averaging more than nine hours a day. I imagine that going for decades on an average of only six (6) hours a night took its toll without my realizing it. 

I suppose that's as good a segue as any to describing my overall mood which is much the same as it was during the fall: contemplating changing seasons in my life going from autumn to winter with things being a little more poignant as we observed the winter solstice earlier this week. Recognizing that my body is continuing to... age (I vacillated between using the terms change and decay) prompts me to ponder what goals and expectations I've had that require reevaluating. But that can be postponed for a day. Today is the day we traditionally celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, even though the Bibilical account suggests that he was actually born in early spring, and due to a monk's error in tabulating the length of a certain Roman governor's time in office, it's actually 2028 instead of 2022 as Jesus was actually born in 6 B.C. I like to think so, because then the "star" that the wise men followed would have been the alignment of the moon, sun, Jupiter & Saturn within the constellation Aries. But I digress. From Luke chapter 2:

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”[d]

That last verse is worth contemplating. There's not a whole of peace going on. That would suggest that God's not particularly pleased with what's going on right now.