(Post) Holiday Thoughts 2023
Christmas day is over. I know the season continues for another 12 days (until Epiphany) and this week is a holiday for most. (I am working, but no one else seems to be doing much...good news is that I don't have to physically go into the office until next year. (The last commute of 2023 was a doozy: https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/shortest-daylongest-night.html). So while I have a spare moment, I thought I'd write up my thoughts as this has been yet another strange holiday.
- I regret not appreciating Christmas gatherings when I
could. The last time I had my family over for Christmas was in
2019. It was a pain in the you know what and at the time we all
tried to figure out a way to make it easier for all of us. (My
parents were at the shore, we were up north). Christmas 2020 was
nixed due to fears of Covid. Christmas 2021 was when my son, my husband
and I all had Covid (thanks to a pre-holiday sweet 16 party...one heck of
a "party favor" that he brought home). By 2022 my mother
had died and the shore area had flooded and frozen, so I didn't get down
there to see my father until the end of the week. Now here I am in
2023 with both parents gone, my one "Aunt" moved 4 hours away
and my other aunt having some mobility issues. (I am thankful that
she was able to come down and celebrate a little with us. While she
lives not too far away, we don't visit each other often enough and that
needs to change in 2024. ) Hindsight is 20/20...make the most of the
times that you have (no matter how irritating they may seem to be at the
time) because you don't know when they might end.
- I attended a "Blue Christmas"/Longest Night
service on the 21st and I'm glad I did. I never did get the holiday
"feeling" and this service was an important reminder that the
holiday isn't bright for everyone. It was good to be among people
who are also facing challenges during the "most wonderful time of the
year." I did cry a little; and that was (probably) a good
thing.
- Although Hanukkah is over, we were able to have a
gathering with my in laws. Miraculously my mother-in-law can still
manage to find sweaters that my son likes as gifts. (I've given up
on the whole clothing thing because he never seems to like what I get
him. I'm pretty sure the two sweaters and pants that I got for him
last year are lingering in a drawer somewhere untouched.) We ate a
LOT. (I made a lot of cookies....probably 6 dozen out of which I
must have consumed more than a dozen myself...can you guess what my New
Year's resolution will be [again] this year? Maybe this year I will
actually commit to it and clothing will actually start to fit properly
again?)
- I didn't observe advent as much as I usually did;
meaning I didn't reflect as much and I didn't attend church on the Sunday
of joy. (We went away on a pre-holiday Holiday vacation to Skytop which is worthy of its own blog
post...IF I get to it.) PLUS, this year Christmas Eve fell on a
Sunday, which meant the 4th Sunday of Advent (Love) was kind of
overlooked. (If I ruled the church calendar this would be different, but...)
I'm not the only one who felt that way, as I attended a 4th Sunday in
Advent service on a Saturday night...which helped pave the way for
Christmas Eve.
- When Christmas Eve is a Sunday, everything is
wonky. I know in the past there have been 3 services (morning,
afternoon and evening) at my church. (Which is totally crazy.)
This year the morning service became what was once the family afternoon
service. (Where my son the layreader got to narrate as a
donkey...hold your comments.) I had planned on making pot roast (at
my son's request) that evening, but nary a pot roast was to be
found. I feel back on ham and as a result I wasn't as prepared as I
usually would be. (I don't think I pulled off the meal as well as I
usually would) My son and I also attended an evening service was
earlier than usual and a bit different, but enjoyable. However, I knew my
son wanted to go to his girlfriend’s afterwards, so I rushed home
afterwards so that he could get going. (I also stayed awake until he
came home, which was just after midnight.) Christmas Eve was a LONG
day.
- Christmas itself was rather low key. I have to
say that it felt like "a day" rather than "CHRISTMAS
DAY." (If that makes any sense.) Yes, there were
presents, but...it just didn't feel "right" to me. If my
aunt hadn't come down, it probably would have felt even less so.
There was so much change this year that I didn't have a good plan in place
to get into the holiday mood for the actual day. (I did get the
"feeling" at certain points when we were at Skytop, so that kind of counts, right?)
I knew this holiday was going to be
challenging and it wasn't. Maybe I should have had a better
"plan" in place. Or maybe I wasn't ready to figure it all
out. In any event, as I have almost gotten through this year and I'm
hoping (praying) that the next year will be better. That when I say
"Merry Christmas" I don't just mean it, but I feel it too...
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