After Christmas

I’ve been reading peoples posts encouraging you to spend this week following Christmas getting cozy with blankets and a good book, yummy snacks & hot drinks. They post lovely photos of steaming mugs of hot beverages with frosty windows in the background. I love it, the photos, and the feelings of nostalgia they evoke.
I always loved this week when my children were growing up. The weeks before Christmas I would tape all the television Christmas specials on our VCR in anticipation of the coming school holidays. I still treasure the memory of that week. Kids curled up in their beanbag chairs with their “sheep blankets”, neighbor kids dispersed across our creaky hardwood floor or the old green couch. There was full permission for popcorn and whatever. I rented movies like “The Gnome Mobile” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” from my own childhood at our local Video place (showtime video,pre-blockbuster). I love that they enjoyed those old movies. My offspring were in love with the idea that gnomes & fairies existed for those hours as much as I always did.
Some years there was snow and they’d all play outdoors. Here’s where I failed. Being a native Floridian, I never enjoyed that part. I would happily bundle them in all their snow proof paraphernalia and close the door behind them, I’d grab a cup of tea and watch from the kitchen window! “Hey guys, nice snowman!” Not exactly worthy of a Mom award, but hey, I gave it my best INSIDE the house!

Years go by, I’ve been back in Florida for over twenty years. No snow days here. In my own childhood here in the sunshine state, the week after Christmas was for beach days and meeting up with friends. My own Grandkids have known only this version of the school holidays.

The last few years I’ve spent this in-between Christmas and New Years week with a friend who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Some days she tells me a story of her days of mothering her two boys. I am reminded how fortunate I am for all the beautiful memories I possess at times like this. What a treasure it is to have the ability to reflect.

So in closing, I wish you all the best cozy days this week after Christmas, wether you’re at work or at home. Soon the New Year will open and with it will come a blank slate, a glorious opportunity to start anew. The beginning of new fond memory making is about to begin.
Merry after-Christmas and Happy New Year!