Winter exhaustion...

It seems to me that one reason that these holidays are exhausting is that we are accelerating our connections. Like catching up on deferred maintenance on a car or house, or a student cramming before finals, we surround ourselves with friends and relations and try do as much as possible in as little time as is available.

I need to do something fun with my brother and his kids. And talk in depth with my sister, who as a woman firefighter and paramedic inhabits almost a different world. And hang out low-key with my father, and help out my mother in some symbolic way. And see the old friends from my high school and college past, force-feeding each other a year or two of each other's lives to try and recapture a glimmer of the faded light between us. And perform all of the season-defined rituals for me and my children, both secular and religious. While theoretically being merry and relaxed... channelling and directing all of these emotional flows, both outgoing and incoming.

Little surprise that folks that are in fragile or precarious emotional states dread this time of year, or choose to opt out.