The Busiest Week ...?

The other day I read that this is the busiest week of the year and, looking at many of my friends, I can understand that this is so.  However, for me, the reverse seems to have been the case.  I likened my situation to the sequence of invading and conquering a city.  There is an initial build up of arms, men and equipment, there is the lumbering approach to the city's boundaries, accompanied by an airborne assault, and finally comes the moment when the walls are breached.

For weeks now, there has been a big build up to Christmas, beginning at the very end of November with the event that we call 'Carols and Chips'.  It's like a parish Christmas party.  There are games, craft work and a tree to decorate, while those who wish gather around the piano to sing carols, and it all ends with fish and chips.  The next step is the distribution of the official Christmas cards, hoping by the use of volunteers to get one through every letterbox in the parish.  I wrote about my experiences helping with this a couple of weeks ago.  Alongside all this has been a mammoth effort to fit in many practices of our choir to lead the singing at the annual carol service: many, because not everyone can make them all.

During this feverish activity there was a week when school parties visited the church to explore a series of tableaux entitled 'the Christmas Journey', and last week some schools have taken over the church for their own carol services and other celebrations.  The carol service for which we had been practising finally took place on Sunday evening, with other music groups taking part in addition to the choir in which I sing.

I woke up on Monday morning feeling quite depressed.  To return to my opening metaphor, the climax of the operation had been reached, the city walls had been breached and the city taken.  Now I was walking along the deserted streets, looking at the open spaces and wondering what to do once I'd actually arrived.  In practical terms, so far as they affect me, there was no men's breakfast on Monday, there was no home-group meeting during the week, and I was aware of other regular activities - that don't involve me - also having come to a halt, and not happening now until after the new year has begun.  Apart from the midweek service on Wednesday, I've had nothing to be involved with.

Fortunately, my depression soon lifted as I found things to get on with at home.  I even spent a morning tidying and dusting my bedroom, and clearing out lots of old magazines that had been stashed away for no useful purpose.

There were other shafts of brightness too.  One was a card that arrived from a bereaved friend to thank me for a phone call and some sympathetic words that I'd sent by way of follow-up.  More brightness came from sharing the work situation of a friend who this week faced the preparation of an important report virtually from scratch.  I learned yesterday that this had been completed and sent off by Monday evening, although the absence of any response was still causing concern.  For my part, I could tell of the completion of a big slice of my family tree that I had been working on for several weeks, now allowing me to do some almost casual tidying of loose ends in other areas.

And I woke up this morning with a silly story buzzing around my mind which I was able to share with a small selection of friends who would understand certain aspects of it and enjoy my amusement.

While many of my friends have been preparing festive food or keeping the children amused - one said she wasn't taking her son to see Santa a second time for fear he might be perceptive enough to point out that he had already divulged his wants when asked a couple of weeks ago! - I am looking forward to the simplicity of an almost normal weekend, after which I shall make what has become a regular post-festive visit to my cousin, where a different normality will surround us all, and relaxation can really triumph!