Relax and enjoy a few silent nights

By S. Derrickson Moore
dmoore@lcsun-news.com
LAS CRUCES — After the holiday stretch of FTFS (Full-Tilt Fiesta Season), things quiet down around this time of year.
It’s been a great year for fiestas throughout the state, especially in our part, FTFS ground zero. Winterfest and its spin-off progeny, Winterfest II: La Fiesta de Las Luminarias, are behind us now, part of a holiday superweekend that included the debut of La Casa Bazaar in its new Las Cruces Convention Center location.
A Saturday pilgrimage date this year and balmy December weather made Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrations one for the book. Many concerts, art shows and exhibits, and traditional plays and pageants are history now, along with luminaria displays from the shores of Elephant Butte Lake to the village of Doña Ana, the streets and lanes of NMSU and finally, Christmas Eve on the Mesilla Plaza.
Now, the (relatively) silent nights begin. This week is a time for family in the Mesilla Valley.
Play with your presents. Write thank you notes.
Eat leftovers, then plan some walks around the neighborhood to see the lights and decorations or head for the fitness center to lift some weights, swim some laps and work some of it off.
Next week is New Year’s resolution time and maybe this is a time to hold the line, catch up on your naps and make the make the best of what’s left of 2010.
I figure I’ll feel a little better about that Jan. 1 weigh-in if I pile that leftover turkey on a bed of mixed greens or in a veggie stir-fry or soup instead of in a triple-decker sandwich or what I really want, green chile turkey enchilada casserole.
Still, It’s hard to feel too deprived the week after Christmas, after a month of treats that seem to appear mysteriously upon plates, despite your best efforts.
It’s a good time to ponder where you’ve come from, where you’ve been and where you hope to go. Without the pressure of those holiday newsletters, it’s more comfortable to take a honest inventory and ponder some fresh starts and course corrections.
I haven’t seen many studies about office productivity in late December, but unless you’re working the returns desk at a major shopping center, probably things aren’t really hopping for you.
Even in some of the highest stress, 24-7 deadline professions, from law enforcement to medicine to, yes, journalism, things seem a little more laid back this time of year, and real crises, if they happen, have a surreal sense. Even amid violence, tragedy and mayhem, there’s a lingering, if sometimes wistful, sense that peace on earth and good will toward men might just be possible, somewhere, someday, somehow.
When I started asking people about their resolutions for 2011, I was surprised to find that many people told me they were thankful just to be here and hoped to get through another year.
It’s apt that the symbols for the changing of calendar years are an elderly guy and a newborn. Even if we’ve had a pretty good time, all in all, we’re weary of 2010 and ready for a bouncing baby 2011.
Those of us who are parents and grandparents may not be able to entirely suppress the knowledge derived from long experience. With that new hope and fresh start also come diaper changes, feedings, demanding cries and other assorted around-the-clock responsibilities.
Still, there’s something appealing and very human about the chance to see life and the weary world through new eyes, with a fresh prospective.
I hope you and your loved ones enjoy the last of 2010 and have a chance to make plans and savor hopes for a wonderful 2011.
Happy New Year.

S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com; (575) 541-5450. To share comments, go to lcsun-news.com and click on Blogzone and Las Cruces Style.