All Is Forgiven In The Light

This time of year is the one time when the darkest beasts emerge in some people. I'm talking about the population who are stressed to their peak at the holiday season. The lady who can't find the right shade of lipstick she wants to get for her daughter, the guy whose wife is nagging him to put up the decorations, the family with four screaming kids standing in a long line at Wal-Mart, the Wal-Mart cashier who has listened to screaming kids all day and has been so busy she didn't get her smoke break. This is the time of year when people lose their tempers with the person who just took the parking spot they wanted, with the clerk who says they're out of the Cool Whip, with the kids who keep trying to sneak into the presents. Yelling, screaming, murderous thoughts... all go along with this time of year, and usually reach a peak on the day before Christmas.
But, on Christmas day after everyone has opened presents, had their meal, or returned home from traveling to relatives, everyone sits back and relaxes. Parents watch kids play with new toys, lovers sit in front of the fire with heads resting on shoulders, little ones fall asleep from all the activity, and all the chaos of the previous weeks is forgotten, as if the meaning of The Day is not lost after all.