It’s a cold mid-morning here at Birch Bay, a layer of clouds overhead with some blue sky and the sun managing to shine through, wind riffling the water at high tide. I can hear the waves as a subtext to Christmas music on the office radio and cars and trucks passing by out on Birch Bay Drive.
A time of holiday reflection until the coffee pot finishes its dripping task and I can get a cup of fresh, then back to work.
I see people I know walking or driving by and we exchange waves. It’s a good place, laid back, unpretentious.
Someone at the real estate staff meeting this morning asked if I was going down to California to be with family for Christmas. I’m not. She reacted to my simple response as though something was “wrong” and that I didn’t want to talk about it, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.
I look back with warmth on many years of family holiday traditions and anticipation, and busy, bustling, fun-filled activities of finding just the right tree, making decorations and cookies with the kids, sending out Christmas cards, plates of cookies to the neighbors, shopping, wrapping, unsuccessfully hiding presents, reading the Christmas Story to the kids on Christmas Eve, steaming hot chocolate and marshmallows Christmas morning while opening presents, Christmas dinner—the works! I loved it!
However, those days have passed and I’m celebrating the season in new ways. I’m just not sure if I have new traditions just yet. I’m okay with this. My life has become more open, less structured, different expectations, fewer “things.” The last couple of years have been financially challenging, so I won’t be flying to Hawaii for Christmas this year, although I’d love to take my sons and their families there for the holidays! Maybe next year ... who knows what new traditions I'll start.
A time of holiday reflection until the coffee pot finishes its dripping task and I can get a cup of fresh, then back to work.
I see people I know walking or driving by and we exchange waves. It’s a good place, laid back, unpretentious.
Someone at the real estate staff meeting this morning asked if I was going down to California to be with family for Christmas. I’m not. She reacted to my simple response as though something was “wrong” and that I didn’t want to talk about it, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.
I look back with warmth on many years of family holiday traditions and anticipation, and busy, bustling, fun-filled activities of finding just the right tree, making decorations and cookies with the kids, sending out Christmas cards, plates of cookies to the neighbors, shopping, wrapping, unsuccessfully hiding presents, reading the Christmas Story to the kids on Christmas Eve, steaming hot chocolate and marshmallows Christmas morning while opening presents, Christmas dinner—the works! I loved it!
However, those days have passed and I’m celebrating the season in new ways. I’m just not sure if I have new traditions just yet. I’m okay with this. My life has become more open, less structured, different expectations, fewer “things.” The last couple of years have been financially challenging, so I won’t be flying to Hawaii for Christmas this year, although I’d love to take my sons and their families there for the holidays! Maybe next year ... who knows what new traditions I'll start.
A widowed friend, Nancy, remarked to me last week that her recently married daughter wanted her to join in the Christmas festivities with her new husband’s family. Nancy told her daughter that she had married into that family, not Nancy, and that she simply wanted to be at home for the holidays. Nancy asked if she was turning into a curmudgeon. I think not. I think we shouldn’t be judged as a wet blanket just because we know ourselves well enough to rather enjoy ourselves in our own way. To everything there is a season. I take comfort in my solitude. Just as I take comfort knowing my sons and family members are having a blast celebrating the holiday in their own fashion. Just as Nancy doesn’t begrudge her daughter making merry with her new in-laws.
So, my Christmas 2009 will be a quiet affair. I’ll probably take Suki for a walk along the bay. Maybe I’ll take along a thermos of hot chocolate and marshmallows and sit on a bench and watch the seagulls. My sons will call and we'll share our love. Everyone makes the most of what they have in their own way. It’s an attitude adjusting time, and whether anyone else is happy with my attitude, concerns me little. I hasten to add there's definitely no “Bah Humbug” here! It's all good!
Oh, there’s the beep-beep-beep of the coffee pot. Back to work!
But before I leave, check out this website
for some INCREDIBLE hot chocolate
-- really decadent chocolate --
recipes and a history of chocolate.
Merry Christmas!
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