359 ordinary days

Where I work, there are six recognized holidays.  The other 359 days are just plain old days. 
That's a pretty accurate analogy of life.  Too many people are wallowing in frustration because they expect to wake up every morning to Christmas morning.  They want every evening to be New Year's Eve and every relationship to be the 4th of July.  They are looking for a life of long weekends and picnics and parades and they are disappointed when there are no bands marching down their sidewalk. 
You might think that we need to make every day a holiday and find something to celebrate.  I don't think that way.  I think we need to learn to live happily in the quiet in-betweens.  We need to find our satisfaction in building a home and nurturing our relationships, not imagining that those six days are what life is really about.  Looking for a basket of candy every morning is going to make for lots of disappointment. 
Sparkling trees and holiday trimmings are beautiful, breath-taking even.  I love a celebration.
But to imagine holidays are what makes life pretty is to have it backwards. 
To love and be loved, to forgive and receive pardon, to laugh while pulling weeds together or to share a cup of coffee on the back porch...
To know the touch of your loved ones, the feel of your grampa's whiskers and the scent of your gramma's perfume...
To live inside of a soul that realizes how extraordinary the ordinary days are.
That is life lived in sacred places.