#41 Enter that parallel dimension known as "The Holidays," forget about getting anything accomplished.

This is me wearing the headset for a game called Mind Flex, the object of which is to move a little ball around a game board using only the power and focus of one's mind.

You see? This headset is appropriate and completely necessary.

It turns out that focusing the mind's power on moving a little ball around is a skill I am still in the process of perfecting. In other words, this damn thing doesn't work at all. (Not pictured, the two Bloody Marys I drank before I put it on.)

Suffice it to say, this is typical of the type of activity I engage in over that wondrous time of year known as The Holidays. That few weeks (and getting longer every year) in which almost anything goes, simply by using that blessed and universal justification, "It's The Holidays!"

'Tis the season for eating cookies for breakfast because "It's The Holidays!" and getting along with your family no matter what because "It's The Holidays!" and having two Bloody Marys before noon because "It's the Holidays!" and playing games while wearing ridiculous head gear because "It's The Holidays!" and not keeping to your morning writing schedule (which, let's face it, is not that rigid anyhow) because...drumroll, please..."It's The Holidays!"

(I digress here to note that I recognize not everyone celebrates the winter holidays--perhaps for good reasons, such as all those outlined above. In my family we celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus, but count me among those who see a good thing in the blending and secularization of the Christmas-Hanukkah-Kwanzaa trifecta to include all persons in a unified, end-of-the-year celebration of peace, goodwill, generosity, renewal, reflection, family, and hope. The world is getting smaller, people. We all have to squeeze in here together.)

I only have a few more days, until Jan. 2nd, when I consider The Holidays to be officially over in our home, when the tree comes down, the decorations are stored in the attic, the fossilized peanut brittle gets thrown away, and I get back to the everyday reality of staring at a blank computer screen every morning.

Actually, I kind of can't wait to get back to a normal routine. Too much of The Holidays is never good for anyone. (See photo above.)

ETA: I almost forgot Zhu Zhu Pets! Bought for three times the normal retail price on eBay, because It's The Holidays!