Christmas 2019

Hello readers. I just wanted to write and say thank you for following along with us this year.

Christmas brings many emotions with it every year for me. Love, sorrow, joy, yearning, regret, melancholia. I seem to run the gamut of emotions more with every passing year.

Love, let’s talk about that… I love my family and friends without a doubt. This includes all those extended family members scattered all over the world and our departed family members who share my heart. I don’t need a season for this love.

Sorrow… I have sorrow for our missing family, not just now but all year round. This sorrow always seems to surface more at this time though because of the huge family gatherings we used to have where we would routinely have 40 people or more in attendance for a Christmas Eve of revelry, gifts and love.

Joy… I am always filled with joy to see the lights and decorations. I rejoice in the faces of the children in the stores looking at the goodies to be asked for. I find joy in seeing that the season brings out the kindness and generosity in most people that lies hidden for a lot of the rest of the year. It gives these repressed folks an opportunity to allow their inner humane nature to surface without breaking their hard exterior crusts too much.

Yearning… I yearn to see people having a joyous time. I yearn to spend many more seasons with my loved ones.

I regret many things… The years and holidays missed with family. Years away from my children and their children. I always find myself hoping to strive to do better in the coming months and years in keeping up with all of my loved ones, no matter the distance or time difference.

Melancholia sets in about this time (written on Christmas Eve). In years past there were huge gatherings at some family members house for this eve. Usually family would start to gather around 11 in the morning and keep coming all day. Each person or family group bringing food, filling the house with the smells of the gathering feast to be consumed. A ham in the oven, Mom’s cornbread and sweet potatoes, fresh rolls, roasted veggies, oyster stuffing, the ever present hot potato salad from the german in law, the pies of all flavors and the cookies. The blessing, the carving and serving and the kids table. Later, everyone fed and dessert in hand, the exchange of the gifts and the light in the children’s eyes. The joy of the parents and grandparents watching each other to see if the gifts can be guessed by the recipient. The ornament exchange with steals. These things bring on that melancholy feeling.

There are those who will say I am just old and kind of maudlin. Maybe I am.

So, gentle reader, I will set this to publish and wish you all…

A Very Merry Christmas!