December Pros and Cons

A h, December. In no other month does so much joy rub shoulders with so much stress. I spend all fall looking forward to the former, and every year - without fail - the latter hits me like a Mack truck. One of these years, I'll see it coming, but it probably won't be anytime soon.

Sometimes, when faced with the emotional para- doxes the holiday season brings, it helps me to make a list and separate the pros from the cons: - School gets out for two weeks! - In two weeks. - I'm finally going to find out how I did on the PSAT - the scores are in the mail! - Yeah, so's that check. - There's snow on the ground! - The snow's been there since last Tuesday. Any guesses why? - People are actually jealous of my new silver coat! - It's freezing out. Actu- ally, it's not even freezing. I wish it were freezing - that sounds positively toasty. - With my new chocolate advent calendar, it's in- credibly easy to remember what the date is! - We have a cat. 'Nuff said. - I'm having so much fun shopping for Christmas gifts! - I'm not alone. You know it must be December when the clerks at Bath and Body

Works have to use "Line

Forms Here" placardshellip; and when the line stretches out the door and into the store across the thorough- fare. - The frost on car windows is so darn pretty! - Normally in the winter, I have to empty out my chickens' water every night so it doesn't freeze over.

This winter, I just lug the whole thing inside so it can thaw out enough to dump, as it freezes solid during the day. - Christmas music - my fa- vorite - plays everywhere, all the time. - Have you ever been stuck in Macy's when "Christ- mas in California" was blaring through the store?

Aaugh! - People start wearing "ugly" Christmas sweaters to school - they're so silly! - My stepmother starts send- ing me pictures of my dad wearing "ugly" Christmas sweaters. No offense, Dad, but that one with the jingle bellshellip;oh my. - There's a Knowledge Bowl meet on Thursday! - Uhhellip;I suppose there aren't actually any cons related to Knowledge Bowl. - I get to do all those fun holiday service projects with NHS and Leos! - I guess there's not really a con directly related to this one, either. - And there's snow in the forecast on Thursday, so we might be able to go sledding this weekend. - I got nothing. Maybe De- cember isn't so bad after all. - Could be. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get "Christmas in California" out of my head.