A Calm Christmas

I’m having to get used to a new Christmas routine this year. For the the past several years, the plan has been for me to go over to Jamie’s*on Christmas Eve and spend it with the Scotts. Once that soiree broke up around 10-11 or so, I joined my immediate family for our usual Christmas Eve festivities (we evolved into Christmas-Evers over the decades), got a couple of hours of sleep, and then headed out (bleary-eyed) for the Great Unwrap at Mary’s at 8 on Christmas morning. And that was followed by whatever the day brought.

This year will be different.

As has been documented, all of the Scotts (save for Dale) have changed living spaces this year—all of them with less pah-tay room, and none of them as close by as Mary had been. Knowing this, it comes as no surprise to me that the attendance for the larger family gatherings would have to be adjusted. When you factor in the addition of Troeesha and her papa, Joxer, then it was obvious that space would be at a premium this time around. But—I will be having Christmas dinner with the Scotts. So, I’ll not be completely shut out of my time with the family this holiday season (yay).

Now, since the presents are wrapped and I no longer have an annual tradition to attend, what will I do? Probably not too much. I’ll assemble the veggie Christmas lasagna in the evening when I would have been at Jamie’s. Other than that, I’m just going to relax, nurse my very slight cold, and enjoy the day.

It’s been a little hectic and stressful recently (which is why I like the relative calm of Thanksgiving over the chaos of Christmas, in general), and it seems all right and proper that today and tomorrow are given to more quiet time. For thousands of years, going back to when we first noticed that the days were once again starting to get longer, this has been a time of the year for both celebration and quiet contemplation.

However you celebrate this segment of the calendar, I hope you find something or someone that warms your soul, creases your face with smiles and laughter, and reaffirms to you why love is there to be shared. That’s really what it’s all about.