Burning the Candle

During this season, we often hear the refrains of "slow down", "enjoy the journey" or "don't forget the reason for the season."  But, in actuality, outside of prepping for Christmas eve or completing a thousand chores, I do very little in the way of thinking about Christmas as Christmas rush, Christmas hassle, or Christmas shopping . . . certainly not when it comes to gift-buying, tree decorating, light stringing, or cooking.  Anything along these lines I complete on a whim or at the very last minute (saves all that time "thinking" about them). 

But I am, nevertheless, burning the candle on both ends--which is a wonderful phrase for this time of year, seeing as how I do light a candle sometimes.

Now that I have a multitude of writing deadlines, I find that I must light my candle early every morning . . . and keep it burning well into the night.  I light the candle, get my pre-determined number of words written, and then blow out the candle.  I move on to other things (such as eating cookies that others have baked, enjoying the mad rush of others who are frantically shopping and knowing that I don't shop, and relaxing with coffee).

The candle keeps burning through the first of January, when I get to press the pause button if I reach my goal . . . and then I will probably have to light it again in February.

I'll have to buy another candle.  Eventually a candle burning on both ends meets in the middle.  I don't know what happens then.