Bah Humbug (def’n): An expression used when someone does not approve of or enjoy something that other people enjoy, especially a special occasion such as Christmas. (Cambridge Dictionary)
The BAH HUMBUG Christmas of 2020 is coming, steadily advancing, crawling along, daring us to disregard all the Public Health Warnings that bombard us daily with the dangers of Covid-19. Upwards of one half the population of Ontario is in the Grey Zone … locked down once again. We are all cautioned not to travel, not to shop except for essentials and to stay home to protect ourselves and others.
It’s a struggle to find the silver (or red and green) lining in the cloud of doom that has settled over our homes. Does the existence of the myriad of vaccines on the horizon solve the 2020 Christmas dilemma? Not by a long shot!
I have searched for solutions these last several weeks and the most available one I found (for everyone) is our memories of Christmas’ past. Now my landscape is peppered with wonderful, horrible, funny and pathetic recalls. I don’t doubt that this is true for most of us. So, in keeping with my goal of finishing my memoire sooner rather than later, I have set myself a writing exercise to while away the time over the next two weeks until January 1, 2021 arrives.
I intend to focus my attention upon Christmas’ past. I will follow a method gleaned from a marvelous book by Laraine Herring
The Writing Warrior: Discovering the Courage to Free your True Voice
Shambala Press 2010 (ISBN 978-1-59030-796-0)
This book outlines in detail a three-part breathing practice as follows:
1. 5 minutes (minimum) of belly breathing
2. 5 minutes (minimum) of shaking practice
3. 5 minutes (minimum) of writing whatever pops into your head
These steps have guided me to many memories that are appearing in my book titled RECONCILIATION, an epistle I have been writing steadily for the past 5 years. Ironically only one Christmas Past has made it into the book so far … and it wasn’t a great memory.
This is often true of memoire. The easiest memories to access are the difficult ones, those that won’t leave us alone until we tell the truth on the page. I have also discovered in the rewriting of each section that there are some hilarious and poignant memories to add if the work is to be truthful.
I hope that this concerted writing effort will jog my brain into releasing other authentic Christmas’ pasts, hopefully of the funny and magical kind. They will be a welcomed addition to my epistle. At any rate this writing practice will help make Christmas 2020 pass quickly. Who knows it might end up being one to celebrate.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE
