13 Dec 2015

farewell 2015!


I have the December blahs. An end of year ennui (I’ve never used that word before!). Tired of the 9 to 5 treadmill, sick of sitting inside on a sunny day, hurry up holidays, what have I done with this year?, December blahs. Actually I probably had them in November, what with that wretched cold, but yes … blah.

The weeks go fast and the weekends even faster. In the evenings, I don’t want to go to bed; I’m happy curled up on the couch with a magazine. In the morning, I don’t want to get out of bed, because the predictability of each day, whether it’s chores at home or going to work, are all that await.

And I don’t feel like Christmas. There, I’ve said it, to someone besides my mother. Admittedly, I don’t ever feel much like Christmas as I get older — I think it’s great if you’ve got little children, or the true religious significance of the season resonates with you. But mostly now, Christmas looks like endless catalogs in the mailbox, junk for sale in the shops, and TV ads of Curtis cooking a ham on the barbie. I’m not completely bah-humbug — if, amongst the chaos and commercialism you find meaning, I applaud you. But me, not so much.

All I want for Christmas this year is a pavlova, and so does dad, and mum reckons she can do that for us. I’m sure a pav will be like a sponge cake — so easy to make, why don’t we make them more often? Then again, only once or twice a year, at Christmas or birthdays, it will retain that aura of rarity and specialness.

So I’m looking forward to my summer holidays, to re-charging my physical and emotional batteries. Reviving my yoga practice, which has slipped away in recent months; that’s good for a stiff body and creaking soul. Reading something longer than the clothes credits in Vogue, which is all I can manage at the moment. I have Nigel Slater’s newest kitchen diaries from the library, and I find his writing so calming and thoughtful; months ago, I bought Michelle Crawford’s inspiring account of creating a new life in the Huon Valley, and I’d like to crack that open.

I also love being outside in my garden in the summer months, pottering about as much as possible. There’ll be lots of watering, because it’s so dry, and has been for months. That is not so uplifting — I don’t know where the water goes, and I honestly don’t know how the plants survive. I’ve got peas and beans that refuse to germinate, but a scattering of self-sown tomatoes with fruit on them. In gardening, you’re not always the one in control. You have to take the good with the bad.

And I’m hoping I’ll find some fresh energy for Dig In. I love this small but thoughtful community that has welcomed me here — that’s you — but the December blahs have made it increasingly hard to write meaningful posts. I always want to say more than just ‘Here’s a cake I made’, but that’s all my brain cells can come up with right now.

So enjoy the rest of your December, your 2015; I hope your celebrations are filled with joy. Thank you for your support at Dig In, and for showing me new and marvellous worlds through your own thoughts and messages and blogs. After a good off-line, real-life, fresh-air break, I’ll see you in 2016.

15 comments:

  1. I know exactly what you mean about Christmas, the endless commercialism and shops filled with plastic rubbish that is headed almost straight to landfill make me feel sick. It is just so wildly out of control now. I hope you have a good and refreshing break, and that you feel some positive energy for it all very soon. I completely understand what you mean though, I've had that feeling too at times. CJ xx

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    1. thank you CJ for your lovely wishes. A good break should pep me up again! I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas - keep warm! xx

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  2. Lovely words e. As you know, I have young children but I still struggle with the overall craziness of Christmas. We try so hard to keep it low key, low budget and meaningful but achieving this is tricky! All I want for Christmas is smoked salmon with plenty of cracked pepper and a scatter of capers. My smoked salmon is your pavlova.

    I agree with your words about control in the garden. I have self seeded tomatoes growing rampantly out over my raised beds, while the tomatoes that I raised from seed and put hours of effort into are wilted and showing signs of blossom end rot. Sigh.

    You always make delicious cakes, please keep posting them!

    All the best and enjoy that fresh air x

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    1. Jane, thank you for kind thoughts, it means a lot. And to hear someone else is having gardening challenges is also reassuring.
      I hope you and your family have a great Christmas time - enjoy your smoked salmon and capers :-)

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  3. Best wishes to you and yours for a peaceful Christmas and restful holiday, Elizabeth. I look forward to reading your posts in 2016. xx

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    1. Oh thank you lizzy - thank you for your support. I hope you and Peter enjoy the holiday season too xx

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  4. Pavlova sounds good to me! Christmas can be a social construct and unfortunately commercialism can drive it. To me, it means lots of food, cooking and eating. We always feel a bit blah in December that's for sure. Have a peaceful break Elizabeth :)

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  5. it's good to know the December blahs are common. but pavlova should fix it. thank you jem, and I hope you have a good holiday season too xx

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  6. I very much enjoyed your post as a fellow humbugger about Christmas. We need more of do nothing, and buy even less to counteract the nonsense of triple layer advertising that makes us all feel just a little bit sick. Enjoy the peace and quiet of post Christmas rest.

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    1. louise, it's comments like yours that make me feel quite okay about being a bit fed up with Christmas! thank you, and I hope you enjoy your Christmas too.

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  7. Our Christmas dessert tradition is chocolate pavlova covered in cream and berries. Just add cocoa and grated choc to the meringue mixture. Yum:)

    Hear you on the December blahs... blah, blah, blah.. Christmas is all about perfection as prescribed by the media, and we can just say NO. I am so glad you have:)

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    1. We shall try the choc pav next for sure! yum indeed :0 marry xmas to you jo, keep cool in the heat xx

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  8. Oh my gosh! Snap! I'm still gardening here in the UK because the weather (at least down south) is still very mild. I'm clearing and planning ready for some changes next year in my tiny space. I don't really do Christmas now that my son is grown up but we usually have a tree and some nice food. I usually make a white chocolate raspberry meringue roulade (sort of like a rolled up pavlova) which is my son's favourite but, for me, Christmas means a few days away from work which has got to be good! :o) (and I'm also starting to revive my yoga practise, I love it once the mat's out.) Hope you enjoy having a little break before the new year - happy 2016 to you! Cx

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    1. thank you caro, and to you too! my yoga mat is out on the living room floor, patiently waiting for me :-) and choc raspberry roulade - another one to add to our list!

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  9. Christmas kinda crept up on us this year, we were away on holidays, well into December, and far from any shops laden with festive stuff. Avoided the frantic Boxing Day sales too by composting instead. Figured it was better to give back to the Earth instead of buying more stuff that depletes it. Seems avoidance was our strategy this year!

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Word-verification is on, as the robot-spammers are loving my tuna past bake too much at the moment! I hope you understand - and I hope you'll still leave a comment at Dig In. I love hearing your thoughts, knowing someone is reading, and will always reply. Unless you're a robot-spammer.