The Week Without a Country?

When I was a kid, I watched an ancient movie (50's?) entitled 'The Man Without a Country.'  This guy had done some spying against his homeland and was condemned to spend the rest of his days without a country, basically he got to live on a ship but was never allowed to go on land.  It was really sad.  That's sort of what the week between Christmas and New Year has always felt like: an awkward span of days that is bereft of the Christmas jollity yet prior to the purpose and excitement of a dawning year. The hangover after Christmas?  At least that's what it has always felt like.  This year, it feels more like a time of rest and reflection, a time to recover from the busyness of the holiday marathon, to reflect on what has been and what will soon be.  As a kid, it was pretty much torture, but as an adult who just bid farewell to the last of our in-home celebrants, I am rather relishing the quiet.  I guess I must be all grown up at last; scary thought indeed!