Journey of the Unwanted Necklace Destination 10 (I guess?!)

"Ugly Holidays"

There was a lot missing from the holidays this year, since we were hot on the heels of not one, but two deaths in the family. All the same, there is a lot missing from this crazy necklace and, as we have seen over and over, this ugly and unwanted reject is so much more than the sum of its parts. Well, when it comes down to it, aren't the holidays the same? Even when parts are missing, a great deal is alive and well too, ready to distract us from the problems, trouble and darkness our lives normally dish out. There was much merriment over Christmas for us, and there were friends and family all around, for days and days on end. Then, once time with families was done, a welcome blizzard "snowed us in" and allowed us to retreat to the coziness of our home, to reconnect as a family, and to revel in the joys of each-other, familiar and traditional decorations, great gifts, and yummy leftover foods and treats. The trappings of the holiday season so easily allow the ugly and the unwanted to sink back and almost disappear, at least for a while. Still, here we are again. It is Sunday night, on the eve of returning to school, and don't we know that the unwanted will be there, Monday morning, greeting us like a long, lost friend.