Can anyone make the argument that December is not the busiest month of the year? At least here in the United States. I don't know how it is in other countries.

Even for somebody like me, whose general routine is so predictable, December every year seems jam-packed with various and sundry pre-scheduled social obligations. It's the Christmas season, of course, and it seems like there's something going on every other day at work. Holiday lunches, holiday kick-off meetings, office gift exchanges. Then there's the church circle, where in addition to our regular weekly services we have extra choir practices, special Christmas musical numbers to prepare for, and of course another set of holiday get-togethers. It was even worse when we lived close to family, for heaped up on top of all this there were miscellaneous family gatherings to attend, and both my and my father's birthday celebrations.

Every year the month of December (which, if we're being honest, technically starts in late November) seems like a whirlwind of gatherings, celebrations, practices, shopping, dining, preparing for and cleaning up after. By New Year's Day I feel mentally out of breath and exhausted. It's no small wonder that I scoff at the concept of "New Year's Resolutions." I'm too tired to even *think* of doing anything besides collapsing and spending the month of January recuperating from my December.

Gri"almost halfway through it, but the worst is yet to come!"shny