Distraction

As our part of earth tilts farther from the sun, as days shorten and gray, as night swallows our lives  — there's a good chance we won't notice.

We're too distracted standing in line at the post office, searching for ornaments in the dank storage area of the basement, finding if not the perfect tree then at least one with flaws that can be successfully hidden by strategic placement in the corner.

Did the ancients have this idea when they celebrated solstice or whatever holiday we purloined for Christmas? Were these feasts only to appease the gods or shout hooray? Or were our ancestors saying to themselves, yeah, looks like the world's gonna end any day now, but I have this goat to slaughter and these wild herbs, they might freshen it up a bit, and it seems a shame to let it go to waste...

Because distraction, I think, is one of the surest bets of all. Distraction itself is worth celebrating.