December

By Connie S. Hall

I’m sure for you and for me December is the busiest month of the year. It is the twelfth and last month. Without Christmas to keep us busy, I still think everyone would scurry around trying to finish his or her yearlong goals before the New Year. At least we have the full thirty-one days to try to fit everything in.

I looked up December in the Wikipedia Encyclopedia. There is plenty of information. I looked over the events for the month and my eyes couldn’t believe that there is a day set aside for a fictional holiday, Festivus, on December 23. I wonder where I have been. Every writer should be aware of this holiday. I guess if I were a Seinfeld fan, I would have known about this sooner.

It is a holiday invented by none other than Reader’s Digest. First, as I understand it, there is a dinner served. Immediately following begins the “Airing of Grievances”. It consists of every one telling all the ways everyone has disappointed them over the past year. Then I guess as entertainment, they perform feats of strength.

The dinner part sounds wonderful. I never pass up a good dinner. I certainly don’t want to tell everyone all the little things they have done to disappoint me throughout the year. Such an act would definitely start a few brawls. My achievements with strength are limited so everyone would laugh at me.

As a writer, the only people I would like to express my complaints to are the editors, every single one of them. A writer friend and I were discussing what an impossible task it is to please an editor. They want you to write the same thing, but in a new way. They expect you to know what they want. My objections could go on and on. I certainly have a difficult time knowing how to please them. If I keep writing, maybe someday I’ll figure the entire thing out and write something someone wants. Meanwhile I will continue writing, but I’m not going to celebrate Festivus.