Anticipation

It's more than an ad for ketchup—anticipation. It's the subtext of the whole holiday season. If one is supposed to live in the moment, today—Christmas Eve—must be the least zen day of the year. Christians have spent the last four weeks in the waiting time of Advent. Children (and many adults) are anticipating what might be under the tree tomorrow.

I confess to looking forward myself: to singing Joy to the World tonight with a couple hundred candle-bearing neighbors. And while I have already had some pretty good chocolate today, I anticipate more and better chocolate tomorrow. And I have to wonder just what's in that large oddly-shaped package the Senate placed beneath the tree this morning. I look forward to the family Christmas Eve meal of chicken cutlets with "straw and hay," and tomorrow's dinner of Cuban pork with mojo criollo and black beans and rice.

Anticipation adds a little savor to the good things, just as it adds a little sting to the bad. May all sentient beings have a savory holiday, and anticipate an auspicious New Year.