One Last View of Christmas

"They" say every cloud has a silver lining, and here is the silver lining I'm sharing with you today.

My last week spent in Raleigh with Sarah and her family was in August 2019.

COVID took the trip out in 2020.

Delta and being too newly vaccinated took the trip out in 2021.

Too many family emergencies took the trip out in 2022.

And two family emergencies in the last couple months gave back two opportunities.

The first opportunity came in September when Timothy and I took a "there and back" quick trip to see my father who wasn't doing well.

The second came last week when we received the call my father was dying. 

Certainly, this was a grim reason for a visit.

But Sarah has always hoped we could spend Christmas with her. That just never seems to work out.

True, we did not spend Christmas with Sarah. We spent Christmas at home.

But, like us here in Illinois, Sarah waits until the Christmas season is truly fading before taking down her tree.

And that tree, in all its glory, was still standing last week, still fresh and still emanating a faint (and lovely) pine scent.

During our visit, Sarah brought out a bottle of wine a friend gifted her from a recent visit to Biltmore.

I, of course, could not drink the wine.

But I could admire the ornament on Sarah's tree, filled with wine from Biltmore.

The Magic of an Old Calendar Christmas

For many people, the holiday season is either hectic in not good ways or simply bleak.

Or maybe it's a combination of both.

Here's how we sidestepped that.

Many years ago, we moved our family Christmas to January 7. I actually elaborated on the reasons for that in this column for The Herald-News.

Our holiday season is moves at a fairly even pace and is, overall, serene and filled with reflection.

Now our work life is more hectic during this time of year. But that is all the more reason to eliminate the hustle and bustle elsewhere.

Now January 7 can be a loud and uproarious simply because we have a large family.

But because of the pandemic and other life situations, we have also celebrated small and quiet January 7 Christmases.

But large or small, loud or quiet, it is still neither hectic nor bleak.

It is not hectic because our advent period is six weeks and our main Christmas season is twelve days, culminating on January 7 and then fading away to February 4. So post-holiday blues can't get a foothold.

By the time our Christmas season ends, we are preparing for Calkins Day and Valentine's Day. Once those holidays past, spring is right around the corner.

Yes, we have our share of arguments and bickeringsl what family doesn't?

Granted, the odds are one day each of us will spend Christmas Day alone, without any of the above. 

But if we dwell on the "reason for the season," we're not really alone, are we?

Uncle Barty and Bertrand the Mouse Enjoy an Old Calendar Christmas

On a typical year, Bertrand the Mouse and his Uncle Barty open their Christmas on Christmas Day, December 25.

But with Rebekah and I both getting COVID in the days preceding Christmas Eve, and with my having to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the two little crocheted mice delayed the unwrapping of their gifts until our traditional family Old Calendar Christmas celebration on January 7.

Delaying the gift-opening in no way dampened their excitement of finally seeing what lay inside their gift boxes or their enjoyment of the gifts once they were all opened.

Here are a few photos of  their fun:

In case you were wondering how crocheted mice opening presents...

This is how! They didn't need any help at all.

Bertrand was happy with his new pillow since it matches the red in his ears.

Uncle Barty happily agreed with the saying on his pillow.

The mice were thrilled with their new St. Nicholas stockings.

In fact, they were so thrilled, they insisted on individual photos to show them off. Again, Bertrand was happy with the red one. Red is Bertrand's favorite color.

Uncle Barty was less concerned about the color. He's looking forward to hanging up his stocking on December 5 and wondering what St. Nicholas might bring pretend mice.

"Santa" brought an extra present for Bertrand: the toy reindeer he's always wanted!

The biggest box contained a book for them to share: "Santa Mouse." The mice love books best of all. In fact, that's their mission, to bring the joys of reading to children.

They spent the whole day as quite as pretend mice. And at bedtime, they were snuggled in bed with their new pillows, reading their new book.

The next time I checked on them, they were fast asleep, tuckered out from an exciting Old Calendar Christmas Day.

Still No Ornaments On That Little Christmas Tree - Yet

At the beginning of December, full of resolve, I brought out my little tree to decorate so I could enjoy it all month.

But I'm not very good at assembling things. And since I felt under the weather, I asked Daniel for help. He even unwound all the fairy lights Timothy bought for the tree last year and rewound them.

Well...

I've made no further progress on that little tree.

It's been a month full of obligations, tight work deadlines, a couple BryonySeries book events, a few emergencies, and plenty of COVID, for my family and now for me.

But I still have time, right? After all, we're just a couple days into the actual Christmas season. We won't even celebrate our family Christmas until January 7.

And it's not like I haven't enjoyed this little tree all month. It's still pretty, even though it's a little bare, for now.

Besides, even a little bare tree has a couple of fun stories behind it.

Yes, I'm going to share them.

In December 2019, Timothy and Joshua surprised me with a little Christmas tree with lots of blue ornaments (my favorite color) and other ornaments, of course, for my bedroom.

On Christmas Day, I stopped at the gas station near my house to buy a cup of French roast coffee and a large hot chocolate. I was planning to walk to the hospital near my home and surprise my friend Sue from high school.

Sue and I had recently reconnected. Sue had lung cancer and was in the hospital for Christmas. Before I made it to the register, Timothy walked in and asked where I was going so I told him. He offered to pay and walk with me.

I told him that was fine - and added I needed to make two trips anyway. You see, I was bringing her the hot chocolate and then heading back to my house for the tree. 

Yes, I was going to walk the Christmas tree from my townhome to the hospital and up to her room.

This is how it looked on my dresser at that time. 

So Timothy ended up carrying the tree, and I carried the drinks. She was so surprised to see the pretty little tree and texted me all day that people passing her room commented on her beautiful little tree. She kept that little tree in her room until the day of her discharge.

I was humbled God gave me the opportunity to bring some happiness to her last Christmas on earth. She died in hospice in March 2020.

Last year, Uncle Barty and Bertrand the Mouse "decorated" that little tree.

And they enjoyed opening their presents on Christmas Day.

So perhaps today, now that the COVID symptoms are easing in the household, including my COVID symptoms, perhaps today will be the day to add the ornaments to the tree.

And if not today, perhaps tomorrow.

I still have time.