My son’s first visit with Santa, as well as his Christmas went better than this picture would seem to indicate. I just love the honesty of the moment.

In what seemed like a Christmas miracle unto itself, Santa was able to turn my son around and make him smile as he gave him a high five while sitting on his lap.

Jamie also showed a tremendous amount of joy and excitement as he unwrapped each of his presents on Christmas morning. He tried to play with everything all at once. He showed a lot more awareness of what was going on around him this year than he did in his first Christmas, and it was great to watch.

Christmas has definitely taken on a new focus in our house.

At the same time, I am glad it is over. I’m really not the bah-humbug type, it’s just that watching the collective consciousness shift out of whack can be exhausting.  I don’t participate in any Black Thursday (otherwise known as Thanksgiving) or Black Friday shopping. Instead I watch news reports roll in about fights for the latest and greatest thing, and shake my head.

I love supporting small businesses, but Christmas is a very Amazon event for me, since it keeps me out of retail establishments during December—and that can only be viewed as a good thing.

Christmas also seems like a good way to wind down the year. So once the tree is down, the toys are shoveled into their appropriate place, and the New Year’s resolutions take hold, it is like starting fresh.

I regain my house back from the Christmas bomb that includes the tree, toys, and boxes of decorations that occupy our storage closet and garage for 11 months out of the year.  That feeling of a fresh slate has always outweighed the stresses of Christmas.

The calendar provides that natural reset point with New Year’s, and I see why it becomes that obsessive moment for so many as they adjust their work habits, go on diets, and make countless resolutions.

You really need to perform all sorts of mental tricks to survive a Chicago winter, and Christmas acts as a natural dividing point on the calendar. Any major cold or snow occurring after Christmas can be viewed as something that will at least end eventually, since winter will be on its way out within two months or so. The thermometer is on an eventual uptick.

No matter how nice the celebration, I always feel better starting fresh. Bring on the rest of the year.