December is the cruelest month

When T.S. Eliot famously  wrote "April is the cruelest month..." he was obviously not looking to close on an apartment sale. No, dear friends, when we're talking about real estate transactions, that distinction belongs solely to the merry month of December.

I had the signed selling agreement for both the apartment I was selling AND the one I was buying BEFORE Thanksgiving.
I was making headway, things were happening. And then they weren't.
I hit a brick wall.
Everything stopped cold.
See, during the holidays people have presents to buy, parties to attend, people to see.
And if they happen to be on co-op Board the last thing they want to do is have a meeting.
My new building's Board wasn't going to meet THE ENTIRE MONTH OF DECEMBER.
And the same went for my building; the new buyers were held up as well.
What this meant was that I wasn't going to get an approval on my Board package. And there would be no scheduled meeting for my Board interview either. A whole month of not hearing anything, the waiting, waiting, waiting, and feeling of suspenseful limbo was excruciating. And there's nothing you can do about it. It is, as they say, what it is.
I was told the Sutton Place Board was to meet the first week of January and my Board was meeting 'after the first'.
My fingers were crossed.