Help -- I caught the holiday spirit!!!

Usually when I am blog-silent for a while, it is due to my getting sick, either with the primary FMS or a secondary infection that my messed-up immune system was unable to ward off. But in this case, I've been gone for nearly a month and I'm going to blame it on catching something I've never caught before -- the Christmas Spirit.

I'm kind of embarrassed about this. Not to be a Scroogette, but I thought I was too cool for Christmas -- not the religious holiday, which I observe, but the public fuzzy feel-good festivities with their tacky red and green color scheme. But this year, I caught the generosity-gratitude-hope spirit of the holidays.

And it knocked me speechless.

I do have a lot of things I believe in fervently and take seriously -- religion, love, kindness, justice -- but let's face it, writing about that stuff comes off pompous and boring. Most times when the beauty of the universe moves me to tears, it's just a side effect of medication or a symptom of PMS.

My credo is: if you don't have something sarcastic to say, then don't say anything at all.

My gosh, it's really hard to write with absolute sincerity about kindness and love and hope without sounding like an idiot. I was afraid that if my friends who have known me for years read me babbling about the stuff that has touched me over the past year, it would be so out of character that they would assume I was having a nervous breakdown and have me committed.

I don't know how to write about the things that really touch me without somehow cheapening them. Anything I say in love and gratitude seems inadequate. All I can do right now is write a list and hope someone else can fill in the blanks:

• Little old ladies (and men) who use their meager Social Security checks to feed homeless animals are the unsung heroes of our communities
• Sitting writing my Christmas cards, I was overwhelmed by how many people I really missed and wanted to connect with, many more than I had energy to send cards to
• I am so lucky to have friends and family who care about me and help me
• So many people tell me stories about their own illness, or caring for a loved one with an illness -- and I am amazed at their grace and bravery and generosity
• And, like many Americans, I was moved by the unlikely hero Brenden Foster (whose video you have probably seen, but I am reposting it again in case you have not)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-vaGctUJJY

Last deep thought of the season: Puppies are cute!

Whew, hopefully the fever has passed and I can get back to my usual griping again.

Happy New Year everyone