December 2016 – Merry Mountain Christmas

Christmas 2016 is 3 days away.  50 degrees outside and when this letter is done I’ll be outside working in the yard in shirtsleeves.  Yes, global climate change has reached us here in the Blue Ridge and it is not lost on us.  The Holidays, whether warm and sunny or cold and wintery,  can be a challenging time when family is not near.  This year I am struggling with my children being away and deeply engrossed in the lives and families they are building.  I will not see them or my Grandchildren.  Not sure it’s even OK for me to call.  And you know what?  If it’s actually better for me not to, then I respect that. 

So on the bright side, no money talks, no talks about which child was potty trained at what age and exactly how, no childhood stories that make me want to say;

“uhh, OK that never happened”.

No looking around the room to see every grown-up and every child with their face in a computer, cell phone or Ipad.  No dealing with every child’s food eccentricities.

“Ummm, Ok Mom, she won’t eat those potatoes. She only eats cold pizza.  And not Dominoes, it has to be Pizza Hut.”

Or

“Uhhh, well he’s allergic to celery.”  (WTH?)

Oh and I can be an ass too at Holiday time.  The Bourbon helps, but honestly, sometimes I just can’t shut up.  And by the way, shutting up?  No fun at all. 

But family is honestly the very best thing ever.  I’ve seen my dysfunctional family come together for an illness or an emergency.  I’ve been very happy to see the face of someone that already knows my idiosyncrasies, my history and my odd aversion to talks about religion, base human sounds and excrements, which highway you took to get here or how much you paid for the car your rode in, the gas mileage and how much you paid for that gas.

Let’s cook and eat, drink and talk, walk a wooded road and find woodland homes of our neighbor critters.  (I like to imagine a tiny Christmas Tree in the base of a oak where a Chipmunk family dwells.)

Let’s love one another just as we are, knowing that tomorrow is never promised.  Because it isn’t.  Let’s give and be Merry and Bright.  Let’s do this!