Christmas 2024: A Somber Christmas

 

Not this year..

It is Christmas morning.  It has been my recent habit to rise early and write a reflection on the joy of this holiday and this season.  I focus on family and friends and the glow of Christmas as we celebrate it in the Northern climes. 

Not this year.

Our house is usually fully decorated, inside and out.  We have a minimum of three trees and have had as many as five.  My wife’s design and efforts in this regard are nonpareil.  The photos I have included in my Christmas posts of yore easily support my claim that our home, decorated for Christmas, could have been featured in a magazine spread on Christmas décor festivities.  I have to reemphasize that my wife, in this regard, is the artist and our home is her canvas. 

But not this year. 

This year our Christmas décor is one Christmas wreath on the front door.

Christmas Eve is usually a warm and festive gathering at our home.  The gatherings range from 30 to 50 family and friends.  We have our priest bless the house in the centuries old Armenian tradition.  We feast on sumptuous hors d'oeuvres, dishes, and desserts in the grand Armenian American tradition.  At the end of the evening, we gather around the piano to sing carols and have someone read The Night Before Christmas. 

But not this year. 

This year there were just four of us dining on Christmas at a fine local restaurant.

What is the reason for this much more somber Christmas?

We are mourning for my wife’s mother, Mary, who passed away on December 10 peacefully after a beautiful life of 96 years.  Here is her obituary.

In 2010, when my father-in-law, Harold, my uncle Ozzie, and my aunt Seeran passed away.  As they passed in June and July, we were able to celebrate Christmas five months later. 

But not this year. 

Fifteen days were clearly not enough for us.  We were not able to do anything more than we did. 

When any family member passes, there is always a hole in our hearts.  We miss them even more at holidays, birthdays, weddings, baptisms, and graduations.  After the period of mourning, the grief subsides though the hole remains, but at these very gatherings we remember them still.  We remember them with fondness.  We talk about how they would so enjoy being with us for whatever occasion we are gathered.

Next year, Christmas will hopefully be the norm.  It should be more what we are used to and have come to expect.  My mother-in-law will be with us for sure.  She will be in our hearts and minds, we will reflect on our departed matriarch and just how she loved Christmas and the traditions she helped forge that will, hopefully, last for generations.  She set the tone for this holiday for our family.  She created indelible memories for all of us especially our children.  My wife and daughter have taken the torch from this grand lady and carry it forth proudly and adding to what was already grand.

While mom has passed, there is no doubt her spirit and example will be us forever.  That spirit and example will shine brightly… but certainly it will be brightest at Christmastime.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.