Taking down the tree

It's time to take down the Xmas tree, ushering in perhaps the most dismal part of the year, the downslope to spring, and then summer. Spring's nice when it gets here, and even nicer when it's been earned through actual and seasonally appropriate cold.

By contrast, September for me is a time filled with optimism, with a long ramp-up to the holidays. I suspect this is vestigial thinking from my long academic days, as September marks the return to the bosom of the academy, where I'm always comfortable, whereas January points towards the uncertainty that accompanies summer's freedom: months off, how do you make em work?