It seems we were exhausted even before the year began.

One minute the finish line comes into comforting sight ... the next you are squinting into the untrustworthy, distant glare of a shimmering mirage.

Is that just the glare of Christmas lights and tinsel at the top of the escalator ... and the glaring lack of them in your own home?

Just me? Or are many of us struggling to rise to the Christmas occasion? Some may be bouncing with a full battery of pre-Christmas energy, but I am yet to meet a genuine case.

The impending season presupposes the stamina to be silly. Nuh, uh. Not this year.

Family, friends, colleagues ... most everyone I meet is just treading water until they can retreat to the actual water with a good book. And, no, we won't mention other reasons we may have found ourselves retreating to large bodies of water in the recent past.

The best gift we can give ourselves and each other this year is to take it easy.

Cross pressure cookers off the Christmas gift idea list. Heck, cross cooking off the list.

Walk away from the idea that this Christmas somehow has to make up for the fear, tragedy and disruption of the past 12 months.

If all that happens is that we have a peaceful day, lit only with a smile, that is just perfect.

"Are you all ready for Christmas?" a few optimists have asked. "Nope," I say with a contrary urge to cancel the event entirely.

It is not Christmas I wish to cancel, just anything that insists I rev up.

To rev up requires fuel, and I prefer fuel reduction. To rev up requires revenue - and that seems to be reducing on its own.

Think of me as less of a grinch and more of a cinch - I just want everything to be easy this year and I think you do too.

A peaceful day when nothing happens? Nothing at all? Sounds great.

Rather than seek the aide of a shrink, I am going to shrink-wrap my expectations of Christmas.

Eat whatever is in the house and don't argue with your brother. That'll do. List completed.