Sugar, Shopping & Sex: A Seasonal Romance

December is no time for love. 

The streets hum with shoppers, breath curling like smoke against the frostbit air. Minds spin with lists, with gifts, with the sacred duty of gathering—who has time to linger on desire? Who dares whisper of libido between the clatter of plates and the clinking of glasses? 

In the crush of the season, few couples stroll slow, savoring each step. No—first comes the rush, the wrapping, the reunions. Then, the reckoning: the cleanup. Only then, if the heart still flutters and the limbs aren’t lead, might there be room for romance. 

By the time the last ornament is packed away, Valentine’s Day arrives—a sugar-dusted pause in winter’s grip. Chocolate, they say, stokes the flames of passion. (A sweet lie, but we play along.) The extra calories? Merely fuel. The shared warmth? Just what the cold demanded. 

Then Easter hops in, pastel and prolific. Why rabbits? Why eggs? Consider the creature’s legendary lust—how they multiply—and suddenly, the symbolism is no mystery. Spring teases with promises of renewal, though the thawing earth offers its own… earthy perfumes. 

Summer stretches lazy and sun-drunk. For the young, it’s freedom; for the rest, a pantomime of leisure. Beaches and barbecues sweat away the weight of winter’s indulgence. St. Jean-Baptiste flares, a fiery reminder of home—just before we flee to somewhere else. Then, Canada Day, a maple-syruped sigh: Our home and native land… 

And then—the curtain falls. 

School bells ring. Routine returns. But just as monotony looms, Halloween grins from the shadows, sugar-bright and giddy. Children riot on candy; parents brace for the crash. Then, Thanksgiving—the great soporific feast. Turkey trumps tantrums. Naps prevail. 

And just like that, the snow swirls again. The cycle spins. 

We are ever hungry. Ever shopping. Ever longing.