Day 71: Merry Christmas
Over the past month, I’ve heard the words “Merry Christmas” over and over again. I do wonder though for how many people Christmas is a merry occasion. I can well imagine that for many people this is a difficult time of the year, fueled by memories and filled with sadness.
Absent loved ones are often thought of during the year but husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sister, brothers, and children are especially painfully absent when millions of families get together to celebrate.
When talking about absent loved ones, I’m not only referring to people who have died but just as much about people who, for one reason or another can be home for Christmas. People who have immigrated, people serving a jail time, or people in a medical facility. Or people, who live near enough to each other, but are estranged from one another.
I can well imagine that for all these people, Christmas is far from merry and that they can’t wait for the festive days to be over.
For others, this Christmas will be far from merry because they lost a pet. As some of you might remember, we lost Mickey on December 6th, which greatly overshadowed our Christmas. Just this morning I read of someone who had to rush their 17-year-old cat to the vet. The visit did not have a happy ending. I'll bet they won't feel merry either.
As for me, I am grateful that I am seeing this Christmas at all because I very nearly didn’t. Last Friday morning, I got off the Spadina streetcar, looked to my left to see if another streetcar was coming, and completely forgot to look to my right. An oncoming streetcar missed me by a few meters/feet. I don’t even want to think of what could have happened.
On the upside, this is the first Christmas in all my years that I saw it snow on Christmas Eve. I’ve seen white Christmases of course but never did I saw falling snowflakes on that night.
So, for what it's worth, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas with the hope that whatever sorrow they are bearing the weight isn't too much for them to bare.
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