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03 December 2023
Tags: Holiday
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The Holiday Card 2023: About Time

A pictorial treatise on the passing of time – note the consultation of a pocket watch while waiting for a locked portal – this year’s Holiday Card arrives largely without fanfare or hype. Some years are quieter that way. Not that I didn’t put forth any effort for this one – I still got into a wig and the make-up and an extravagant satin robe and witchy hat – and Suzie followed me around this tomb right before Halloween to take these shots. Then we went to Marshall’s and got Chipotle, or was it Moe’s? Anyway, don’t let that diminish whatever magic we might have conjured here. 

As I was saying, this was all about time, and this past year the passing of time parallels the passing of several people very dear to us. A few of my friends have lost loved ones as well, so a number of cherished people in my circle have been going through some sorrow. That changes the march of time too – elongating it in some respects, condensing and shrinking it in others. Grief, along with the process of grieving, works according to its own timetable – it will not be hurried or rushed, or lengthened for that matter. 

While the wig is not my hair, the color is veering closer to it. Laugh lines are closely aligned to cry lines, and both are deeper these days. The flesh on the rest of the body is fuller, fluffier to put it in a friendlier slant, and I find myself more lethargic and static, staying still rather than being in motion. A slowing down feels right at this moment – a pause of contemplation to give a respectful nod to our past, an honoring of time itself. 

A moment of reflection should include the option of looking back at previous holiday cards. I’ve only clicked a few of these, since looking back can get tiresome, but there are a few that still tickle me. 

TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And, while ye may, go marry;
For, having lost but once your prime,
You may forever tarry.
- Robert Herrick

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