It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Wonder Woman, up on the roof towing Santa’s sleigh with her Golden Lasso.

There is no other time of the year when we Super Parents flex our domestic muscle so heroically. Our pace is unrelenting, our schedules (that we create for ourselves) impossible. We obsess over details no one else will notice, while missing the big picture and become that which we mock and warn against. With superhuman strength; we bake a batch of gingerbread cookies faster than a speeding bullet, possess caffeine and sugar cookie-fueled stamina more powerful than a locomotive and leap tall Malls in a single bound.

I’ve said before that I am more Lois Lane than Wonder Woman; my ultimate humanity beats me every time. My only special attribute is my uncanny ability to constantly need saving—usually from myself. Regardless, I still can’t help but wonder at the woman I become during Christmas.

I am sure the talk shows and self-help books would disagree with my theory, but I think our motivation for over-doing the holidays is really quite simple. There is no need to explore complicated issues of greed, guilt, excess, or anything of that nature. No, one need not go much further than the simple fact that Christmas is a Suoer Hero national vacation day. Even at the Hall of Justice.

It’s true; it was built into the Super Hero contract negotiations. On December 25th, Superman goes to the movies. Batman hangs out. Aquaman washes his hair, and Wonder Woman catches up on her beauty sleep.

And then, in the ultimate telephone booth switcharoo, the Super Heroes exit, and we mere mortals get a day in which we can defy the limits of humanity. Their absence allows us to shine on Christmas.

We can create magic for a child.
We are impervious to “no.”
We have hope.
We believe.
We are generous of spirit.
We fight for good.
We can create wonder.
We conjure nostalgia at will.
We are beautiful.
We are ageless.
We can bring back someone we love.
We can be someone’s hero.

As if all of this wasn’t enough, as if we hadn’t already received the most amazing gifts, we then get something the Super Heroes never experience even after the most valiant of efforts: we get to feel it all with our mortal, flawed and raw emotions, but on a Herculean level.

So however you choose to spend this holiday, whatever villain you defeat or damsel you save, I hope you end the day and the season with the perfect balance of human and hero.

Merry Christmas to all.

©2007 Tracey Henry

Divamail me a Christmas wish. Divamail@SuburbanDiva.com.