December 26

December 26 is the middle child of dates on the calendar. Well, at least in the United States. In Canada, they invented a holiday called "Boxing Day", whatever that is. I thought it had something to do with the physical conflict between people out at the stores the day after, trying to make exchanges and returns of stuff they received the day before. Speaking of, does anything epitomize femininity more than pink boxing gloves and matching head gear?

I digress.

Do you ever get that weird let down feeling the day after Christmas? I mean, there's all that build up in the weeks and months leading up to Christmas Eve and Day, then WHAM, it's December 26th. I always feel that way. For the past I-don't-know-how-many-years, I have been involved with Christmas shows. You have months of rehearsals leading up to several performances, then WHAM, it's over. It's the same feeling. That "now what?" feeling.

Fortunately, this year December 26 falls on a Friday. Next year will be even better because it will be a Saturday. I wonder how many will have to return to work on Friday, only to follow it with a weekend. How weird is that? You have to fire up the engines and put in an honest day of work, but on a day sandwiched between Christmas and a weekend. And to make matters even more interesting, you have to do it again next week when New Year's Day does the same thing to our schedule.

Remember when we were in school? We had weeks away from school, so the calendar looked something like this: Sunday-Saturday-Saturday-Christmas Eve-Christmas Day-Saturday-Saturday-Sunday.

Ahhh, those were the days.

Now we're all workin' stiffs. Many of you had the foresight (and seniority) to take a week or two off with vacation time. That's the way to do it.

But here's to December 26th. The red-headed stepchild of days on the calendar. You're under appreciated in this country, but today, we salute you!

Now hurry up and get over with so we can enjoy the weekend!