Dear Son,
Christmas Tree Closeup
Sometimes (often) my imagination runs away from me and lands in a place that’s different and uncomfortable. This might be one of those times. We’ve probably all played the game when we imagine being in someone else’s shoes. I imagined being in my mom’s shoes and writing me a letter…obviously a long time ago with imagined facts but real emotions.
____________
Dear Son,
We hope you and your family are staying warm! Christmastime is almost always cold where you live and this year it’s even a bit chilly here. I know the two of you are swamped with work and the holidays, but we always hope that some free time would pop up and you’d be able to visit. Dad and I were talking yesterday, we think it’s been 19 years since you’ve been home for Christmas. Time does fly.
We remember the last time you were home it was just you. Your kids weren’t even on the horizon and your wife was working 15-hour a day to catch up with an important project she had. We had a wonderful time but missed her a great deal. We are happy that her parents live so close to you and you’re able to visit them so often without interfering with your schedule.
We decorated for Christmas last week. Dad hung a wreath on the front door and I put a candle in the picture window. Years ago, we gave away the exterior lights, it’s a lot of work putting them up then taking them down and we just didn’t enjoy them that much anymore. I know you remember we don’t buy a real tree anymore; we have a three-foot artificial tree we balance on the credenza next to the bedroom hallway. Of course, that leaves us quite a lot of extra lights and ornaments. We can only use one string of lights, but I can’t stand to throw the other strings away and no one wants non-LED lights anymore, so they sit in the box.
And wow. The ornaments! We collected so, so many ornaments over the years. Most of them were for you and your sister and occasionally one for Dad and me. Some of them still have pictures of you kids taken the year we bought the ornaments. I can only hang a few of them on the tree and am often torn on which to hang and which to leave in the box. Each year Dad tells me to try for some sort of theme on the tree, you know, a color or shape or type. Last year the theme was red, this year it’s angels. I found ten angels in all, some made of straw, most of plastic, but a couple of glass. One of the plastic ones has a picture of you and sis standing in grandma’s garden, flowers up to your elbows. I think this is my favorite theme.
You asked if we were going to Christmas church service. Well, I’ve pretty much stopped going to church. Dad used to only attend at Christmas and Easter but now he’s more interested in late morning snacks and naps than dressing up and sitting on a hard pew for an hour. My voice has begun to crack and so I don’t sing with the choir anymore and so I have joined Dad at snack/nap hour. I know you remember that Christmas was a wonderful time in our church. Pageants. Manger scenes. Caroling. Lots of fun. We don’t know too many people in the church now, most of our friends have passed or moved to Florida. When we pass, no one except you will probably attend our funeral, everyone we know will probably be gone…one way or another. But I guess that’s okay, we won’t care. Smile.
We are very much looking forward to our Christmas Day celebration. We’ll begin by opening the gift you and the family sent. We are so grateful for your thoughtfulness and hope you enjoy opening the gifts we sent you two and the children. When you and sister were young, we’d have to stand clear as you two raced to the tree on Christmas morning. The gift wrap on “Santa’s gifts” would come ripping off and float down like confetti in a New York City parade. Some order was restored when we’d slowly and individually open the gifts from one another. I remember a plate shaped like a frog you’d made for me in 2nd grade art. Both of you made all the gifts you gave us in the first decade of your lives. In fact, I still have all of them in a box in the garage.
We’ll have an early dinner of Christmas ham and sweet potatoes with butter rolls. After we clean up, we’ll indulge ourselves with cherry pie and ice cream. I know that sounds like a very simple meal compared to the feasts we would have many years ago. Back then, we’d all pitch in to prepare, cook, serve, and cleanup. It was never a chore and was lots of fun. With many hands to help. The two of us don’t need as much. In fact, we physically can’t eat as we used to eat so the reduction of food perfectly matches our reduction in energy.
Later, if the weather stays reasonably nice, we’ll walk down the street to the park. Our almanac tells us that the moon will rise at 7:00 pm. There is a park bench we like that will give us a clear view of the moon rising over the horizon; we’ll hope for no clouds.
Merry Christmas and love,
Mom