Where are you Christmas?

With the commercial blur that Christmas has become, all of my inspiration is usually tapped out around this year anyway. This year is worse though. It's really hard to get into the Christmas spirit when everyday on the news we have to hear about more layoffs, Detroit's decline, and more bad news for the Rust Belt cities (Cleveland included). Yesterday I went to buy a gift for someone at one of the store chains (Circuit City, Linens n' Things, KB Toys) that will be closing at the end of the year. While it was a good deal, I have to say it was kind of sad to see empty shelves and inventory in disarray, picked apart by bargain hunters. The lady who checked me out at the counter seemed cheerful, and I wondered if she was only hired on as extra seasonal help to deal with the heavy traffic.

Seems like lately, everyone's smile is a little forced here despite the holidays. Even my mother's hours working at the local state park have been cut and she's been forced to take back almost all of the presents she bought. "It's no big deal, mom," I told her as tears filled her eyes when she learned of the cutback. "I don't need so many things." It was like her spirit had broken right in front of me.

Last night, however, all this malaise about Christmas didn't stop my mom from decorating our tiny tree with brightly colored antique tin ornaments and sparkly snowflakes, opting out of our usual traditional Swedish tree with straw and red ornaments. She hummed and sang along to one of her favorite movies, "Mary Poppins," as I played with my puppy on the floor and for a few minutes, I felt like a kid again.

I'm going to make cookies tonight and hopefully the aroma of little mounds of diet-busting goodness will get me out of this funk.