Allow me to break from the "July" tradition for a moment, & ignore the fastidiously laid plans of Mother Nature. My focus is the focal point for much of my nostalgia: Christmas.
Books, being one of the more valuable things ever introduced into the economy of things, have a special meaning for me, especially when they are such abiding sentimental classics as The Wind In The Willows & {the much beloved favourite} A Christmas Carol.
A Christmas Carol - to be frank - is not so much a Christmas story as it is a New Year's story. For those of us who truly mean to change the course of our life, & for those of us who want this year's resolutions to actually have lasting value, we might need an Ebenezer-like situation, to shake us out of our paradigms.
It matters little if your life is a bad, abused, or flat life, the ideas in this simple story serve as guide to breaking the patterns which lead to bad ends. Indeed, the story is so familiar, so deeply ingratiated in our culture that we almost forget the point. Even in our old age it is never too late to change. Even in our stolid vices and habitual proclivities toward neglect and "scrooginess", we can change & become better people.
There it is. A wee bit of Christmas in July, for those who couldn't wait.
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