Wendy and Lisa, “The Closing of the Year”

Today is the first Sunday in Advent. It’s exactly four weeks to Christmas. While it’s still balmy here in New York, a stunning fifty-seven degrees in late November, I know that soon we’ll reach the end of the year and a plunge into a frigid winter. My mind drifts back to last January, to the rush of New Year’s Day and the bitter cold that followed, and I’m reminded of how much has happened this year, how much I’ve changed. Still, I know that there’s still much to be done; Advent, Christmas, New Year’s Eve do not mark finish lines, but rather celebrations among the chaos of daily life. We can’t set our goals to a watch, we can’t glance at the calendar to see how long it’s going to be until everything makes sense. Maybe our victories won’t be played across the largest stage, but instead only among ourselves and those closest to us. Then it’s on to the next project, looking for the next great achievement on your own schedule.

But even if the next month-and-change isn’t the great revelatory experience we occasionally assume the end of the year should be, it doesn’t mean we can’t have a great deal of fun along the way. Let the bells ring out for Christmas at the closing of the year. Four weeks can be an awfully long time.