Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Weekly Roundup 50: A Christmas Carol

The other day, I caught a replay of the SNL skit starring Martin Short as Ebenezer Scrooge. Motivated by his desire to do good after the ghosts imparted their lessons, Scrooge throws gold coins from his window, accidentally blinding an orphan. Mayhem ensues, and fake blood sprays everywhere. It's funny and over the top ridiculous.

Scrooge is a great character, who has been played so well by many talented actors, but I think the real stars in A Christmas Carol are the ghosts. 

As Charles Dickens wrote in the preface: “I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.”

Dickens began writing A Christmas Carol in October of 1843. He took six weeks to finish it, and, after a few production disagreements about endpapers and bindings, the novella was released on December 19 of that year. The book was an immediate success, so much so that even the Americans, whom Dickens had alienated with some of his earlier work, fell under its spell. 

In the many years since, A Christmas Carol has inspired a host of adaptations for film, stage, TV, and print, including opera, graphic novels, more versions starring animals than I can count--and most likely the story of another, much greener, holiday curmudgeon who sees the error of his ways (The Grinch, of course).

Though Dickens went on to write four more Christmas novellas, none achieved the popular and critical success of his first. I’m no Dickensian scholar, so I won’t delve into the particulars of the author’s life or the zeitgeist of Victorian England and its parallels in today’s society. I just appreciate the story for its most basic messages: Be generous. Be kind. Be grateful for friends and family. Celebrate. And if your front door knocker gives you a piece of its mind, prepare for a very restless night.

Merry Christmas, my friends!

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Weekly Roundup 49: Quality Control

I've just returned from a 4-day weekend in Los Angeles, a city I'd not visited before. We did some touristy things, but one of the main reasons we went was to help decorate a float for the Tournament of Roses (aka Rose Bowl) Parade. It's something my husband has always wanted to do, and it sounded quirky and fun, so I was in.

The parade isn't until January 1st, so mid-December is too early for fresh flowers. Our volunteer gig was one of the dry decorating tasks, specifically gluing crushed walnut shells to the float exterior. Kind of like paint by numbers, but way messier. (The medium brown are the walnut shells.)

At one point, our volunteer coordinator noticed that some of the work done by a previous shift was not up to her standards. It didn't look wonderful, but neither did it look awful. I thought that by the time all the flowers and water features and people were added, no one would even see it, let alone notice.

But she couldn't let it go and asked a volunteer to try scrape it off. The glue had already dried, so it was impossible to do without damaging the float. I'm not sure how it ended up, but I hope she made her peace with it.

It all got me thinking, at what point does quality control (usually helpful) become perfectionism (often unhelpful)? Is it when it slows down the creative process? Is it when good enough is never good enough? Is it when we lose sight of the big picture? All of those, and more?

I ask because I get caught in the trap of perfectionism more often than I'd like to admit, and it can be paralyzing. I tend to be pretty critical of myself in writing and in life. But the truth is that few things--maybe no things--in this world are perfect. Maybe, if we're lucky, we have moments where we come close.

As seasonal side-note, Christmas is a great time for this reminder. There is no perfect gift, perfect meal, perfect photo, despite what social media implies. Cut yourself some slack, and I'll try do the same.

See you next week!


 

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Weekly Roundup 48: Life Happens

Hi there! Life happened to me this week, so instead of a post, you get a couple of seasonal pictures and a promise that I will be back next week with a better effort.

Take care!




Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Weekly Roundup 47: 12/12


Yes, we've reached the last month of the year, the twelfth of twelve. I do like the feeling of a dozen months that can be neatly split into halves of six. Like an egg carton. 

January is named for Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings, whose two faces look simultaneously at past and future. But I don't like to look back when the month of January arrives. I prefer for the New Year to feel like it's brimming with forward momentum. So I do my retrospection in December.

I have already identified some very specific disappointments courtesy of 2024, but this year I also learned some lessons about the importance of pivoting, of staying nimble and realistic in regard to expectations. I tried to embrace a new mantra (which I guess I borrowed from Frozen, despite having never seen it): Let. It. Go.

As my husband could tell you, it's a work in progress.

So am I. So are we all, really.

As we stampede toward Christmas and New Years, I will try to make space for some quiet moments to be generous with myself about how this year played out on the large and small scales. And I'll try back off on the overthinking and my ever-so-slight tendency to be controlling.

December is already shaping up to be a the speediest month of the year--kind of like the anchor leg at the end of a relay. In the words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." 

See you next week!