According to a Merriam-Webster post, “cheer” comes from the Greek cara meaning “face”. It originally could mean a happy face or a sad face, or any kind of face, but it gradually came to mean happiness and a certain rah-rah spirit.

I’m certainly feeling cheerful this year, in spite of all the crap going on in the world at large (the pandemic being a big piece of crap). I started an anti-depressant about a year ago, and it’s helped my outlook considerably. Things don’t seem as overwhelming as they did in, say, August 2019. I’ve been able to start and finish more little projects around the house, and the voice that tells me, “That’s HOUSEWORK. That’s not important or interesting. That’s NOTHING” – you know that voice – that voice doesn’t seem to hold as much conviction and persuasiveness as it used to.

I’ve managed to finish my Christmas shopping, wrap my presents as they come in, and decorate the house – and not go overboard with wild schemes to have The Best Perfect Christmas Ever! I’m shooting for a nice Christmas; a comfy New Year; a cozy rest-of-winter-until-Valentine’s-Day 2021. My husband helped me tape up an outdoor Christmas tree made of three trellis and three strings of solar lights, and I made a Christmas tree out of cuttings for the front entrance, and a kitty tree for the porch. It actually sounds like a lot when I put it this way, but believe me, it was less than three hours of work, and that was spread out over different days.

 

When I feel like it, I make little paper decorations for the kitty tree, and I have a pretty red ribbon to tease the cats with. It’s less like work and more like therapy. (The decorations are shuriken made of origami – aka, Japanese throwing knives. For some reason,

I find it ridiculous and hilarious that my kitty tree is covered with little sharp weapons . . . much like my kittens are equipped with tiny knife-like claws. But, that’s just one reading. Shuriken look like stars, and since they are made of white paper, they seem rather demure and pristine.)

 

I wish I could funnel my creativity into the paths my forebrain would like to explore; it’s quite pitiful really. My forebrain has GREAT ideas for marketing and suitability and getting things done, but it’s my backbrain that comes up with the content and juice. And my backbrain is more interested in Christmas decorating and playing music.

 

Still, at least some creativity is a win. I was talking with a friend on LINE, and we fell into making a song. It was a very nice Winter Song, with each of us contributing lyrics (she did a the music, but I helped a little bit). One of the main images was her idea . . . “playing around in a snowman’s globe”.

 

 

I love this the more I think about it. It seems like a perfect metaphor for cheerful winter celebrations in 2020. Yes, we are encapsulated (some would say trapped) in a bubble. Danger is outside. But inside, it’s rather enchanting, if we make it so. Snow is falling, there are snow angels on the ground, and maybe a cozy cabin surrounded by perfect little evergreens.

 

“Peace and love and harmonies

“Cover the trees like symphonies.”

 

You know, I might get a story out of this and make my forebrain happy after all. After all, Christmas comes but once a year, so might as well make the best of it.