Merry Christmas

~ Live & Learn

The picture was taken last night. Part of a family tradition that Grandma started years and years ago —  Grandma sends her gifts which they open on Christmas Eve. It’s always pajamas. The ritual never grows old, and has travelled with us as we moved from city to city, and from house to house, chasing a Life.

It’s 5 a.m. It’s silent now, but for the high winds howling outside my window. The moment reminds me of their younger days, when we lived in much smaller quarters.

“We call out good night to each other down the hall. How beautiful, the way that children sleep so deeply and peacefully that their parents’ voices do not wake them.” (Elizabeth Alexander, “The Light of the World: A Memoir.”)

I sit, writing this post. It’s quiet but for my breathing. A tear slides down my cheek.

Martin Amis said that “Time has come to feel like a runaway train, flashing through station after station.”  Melancholy sweeps over me —  I wonder how many more Christmas moments are left before they move on with their lives.

Maybe one more. Please, give us at least one more…

Merry Christmas.

65 thoughts on “Merry Christmas”

  4. Nothing like sharing a tear with a friend…your children are magnificent, your thoughts loving and bittersweet. So from my saline soaked cheek to yours, i send a hug and a wish for the Kanigans to enjoy a fantastic Christmas!

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  5. Why do you have to make me tear-up on Christmas day, why oh why? This is so über-beautiful. And all of them are so beautiful too…
    We are just the two of us – and I’m not even sure to see my son who is some 300km from us but might as well be in another country. Some people don’t wish to gather and prefer to stay at their place. Something to accept with a smile and a constricted heart. So, some move on with their life rather further and more completely than we’d ever envisaged.
    BUT we are happy and eternally thankful for everything we have – and maybe even more so for all we don’t have to have!!!
    Wishing to you and all your faithful readers and families HAPPY, PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS DAYS and a wonderful NEW YEAR (2021 surely will be better for most of us)

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  6. Ahhh, how beautiful, pal. Ya got me all choked up, too. At our house, it was cinnamon rolls early Christmas morning, before the packages were opened, my dad in a tatty plaid robe that he digs out but once a year, my mom muttering that she just needed to get some coffee made, my brother and I dancing around the tree, peeking at presents and trying to decide which one absolutely couldn’t wait. This year, it’s photos of cinnamon rolls texted across the country and sleepy morning calls. And in some small way, tradition persists. May you and Susan enjoy a terrific day with your beautiful kids (and Sully!) and bank more precious memories. Merry Christmas!🎄💕

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  7. Merry Christmas, David, to you and your family.I know the feeling, the dread of an empty nest, the even worse feeling of the actual empty nest. But when you come out on the other side, there will be many happy moments when you’re all together again, the house is full and noisy, and it’s as if they never left.

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  8. God’s Blessings & Joyous Greetings of Love, Peace & Hope…, to you, your family and your family of “Live and Learn” readers…” I wonder how many more Christmas moments are left before they move on with their lives.” awww…Your Joy will be increased as they move forward in their life and perhaps some day they will marry and in those future unions the Love of Grandchildren will Bless & Blossom and the Traditions you and Susan have created will continued on… 🙂 Love Grows…
    May Deep Peace Wash Over & Be Felt Throughout the World…

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  10. There really is a sweet melancholy for many at Christmas. Thank you for capturing this in your writing and photo. It’s refreshing, somehow, to take some time for this reflection. Merry Christmas.

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  13. Such a beautiful post, David. You know, even when they move away and start their own traditions, new ones will be created when they come home for the holidays. We all would pile into our cars, three sisters with their husbands and a total of eight kids and a three dogs, and drive up the two hours to go to our mother’s place. And when we were kids, we would pile into the cars, two or three siblings (my mother, her sister(s) and brother(s) and varying amount of kids – lots! – and drive up two hours to HER mother’s… Things changed over the years and we convinced my mother and her beau to drive two hours and come DOWN to us! Still… all together is not happening this year but we hold on to the belief that next year we will.
    Now… must wake up my chef. Want my breakfast!

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  14. Awwww
    The plan was to not tear up today, but here we go!
    There’s a common Arab prayer we say at dinner tables in special gatherings, Il-Bait Il-Amer, wishing the lady and man of the house many big gatherings at their table!
    I wish you and your beautiful Susan many many more gatherings. May your hearth gather them always!

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  19. Merry Christmas to you and your family, David. The inevitable has hit home here….for the first time in 31 years, I didn’t have all of my “kids” here for Christmas Eve. Melancholy is an understatement but there’s joy in watching them create their own lives as well. Stay safe and hoping for better days ahead in the New Year!

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