Thursday, December 27, 2007

Post-Holiday Ennui

It happens every year, and I guess I should expect it.

The after-the-holidays gray gloom. And I'm not just talking about the weather, though that's been pretty grim, too. The snow Portland was promised for today is turning out to be nothing more than very cold rain, though we did have a few fluffy flakes on Christmas day.

It may have something to do with coming off of an incredible sugar high - I baked like a maniac Sunday night, making Chocolava Cookies, Pineapple-Pumpkin Bread with swirls of handmade cranberry sauce, and my family's infamous No-Bake Cookies which are like the carbo-crack love child of fudge and chocolate-peanut-butter-oatmeal-bars. I finally stopped eating them late last night, and packed up the last few today to hand out to friends. After all, there are still a few gifts under the tree that need to be distributed. And this morning, I finally finished cleaning out the stove, and got the last of the baking dishes done. Yippee.

And just as baking must be followed by clean-up, it may just be that a high like Christmas must naturally be followed by a low.

It was a great Christmas. I had a marvelous time with The Sweetie's family and I got some really good things that were on my list - a bat house so that I can play hostess to flying rodents (read even more about it at http://www.batcon.org); a Versa-Tool and a soldering gun; and a Ratatouille Holiday Ornament to add to my holiday mouse village scene (you can see the new ornament on the bottom left . . . and no, I don't actually need any more mouse miniatures)


But now I just don't feel excited about much of anything. I've got a stack of things I need to do and an oodle of fun projects I could work on, and I just can't seem to work up enthusiasm for any of it. It feels like ennui, though I have no excuse for the boredom and dissatisfaction associated with it.

7 comments:

claudia said...

I used to feel "post-holiday ennui" but now I just take it easy, relax and have lazy days. I think that we feel like that because it counterbalances the excitement of Christmas. Take your shoes off, drink some hot chocolate and watch a good film (maybe Ratatouille!).

Sven Bonnichsen said...

SQUEEE! There's such a thing as bat houses?!? And... And... There'd be bats?

So. KEWL. 8-D

Bridget said...

Claudia: Thanks! It'll go away . . . I'm watching the first season of Ugly Betty and last season's Project Runway . . . it seems to keep me sane.

Sven: Yes! The idea is to create a habitat, high enough up, in a sunny spot, and there's like a 50% chance you'll get bats . . . and I really want bats! I've got lots of birds, and really fat squirrels, and bats would make my little urban wildlife habitat complete!

gl. said...

if shu-ju doesn't already have a bat house, she totally should.

bridget, it sounds like you're just recuperating. enjoy some time off! you can get busy again after new year's, if you want. :)

Bridget said...

Thanks, G - maybe I just needed permission!

Michael5000 said...

The thing about bat houses is, it usually takes a couple years before anybody moves in. So it won't be a quick fix for the seasonal ennui.

I'm late to the show, but I hope you're pulling out of your slump. Once things chug along again after the new year, it's usually a nice quiet time to roll with the creative projects....

Bridget said...

MK5 - no, bat houses are not a quick fix for ennui, sadly . . . but, yes, thank you, I can feel myself un-slumping. Yummy.

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