Glad Tidying Up!

Most years, I am bothered right after Halloween. The untimely advent of Santa and the horrendous cutouts of Native American headgear are usually more than we’re expecting earlier than we’re expecting it. I love holidays provided that preparing for them doesn’t provide some sort of burnout. Plainly, jumping through hoops before the holidays puts me in a grumpy mood.

Don’t get me wrong. I love that it gets darker earlier. I love the cold. I have a fondness for the Christmas tradition in the American experience. Like many others, however, I grow tired of over-commercialism, holiday tunes that get stuck in your head, and that slippery slope into the new year which thrusts us all forward into time and advanced age, enforcing another year on those of us who wondered how the last five also snuck by.

This year, something’s different. The winter’s holiday season is among us, and I welcome it. Surprisingly, I’m in a great mood. No, it isn’t because already wrapping paper hovers above the aisles of the Duane Reade. The exorbitant Thanksgiving meal packages advertised in the window of grocery stores and restaurants do little for me, too. It’s just that America has received some presents early.

Yes! I am talking about the US elections. Normally, current events have a miserable appeal. I hardly write about them because I already spend more than enough time reading about them. I am exhilarated by the shift in American politics. This afternoon, both houses of Congress were declared to have a leftist majority, stripping the Right of its hypocritical hold what should be a life-giving and liberating governing process.

Waking up on Wednesday morning was a lot like Christmas morning (yeah, I know what it’s like). I was eager to know the joy that awaited me. All day, we were all granted a bit of insight. As I went through the day, I noticed the smiles and frowns on the faces of those who spoke of the election. Conservatives were gloomy, failing to limit further the rights of women to their bodies. My liberal friends happily tucked away their passports, no longer compelled to flee the country in fear of an imminent Evangelical dictatorship armed with abstinence-only pamphlets and self-help bargain books.

In spite of my current dilemma (which continues despite my lifted spirits), I see that hurdles aren’t always so bad. They’re no more permanent than the lingering stench of the GOP. Sometimes, troubles come to an end. Times get tough, and then, times get better. Finally, this year’s circus of a season has brought more than hoops to jump through. This year, we’ve got hopes.