CHRISTMAS

Christmas used to be the best time of the year. I looked forward to the coolness of the weather even the grayness of cloudy days. The sounds of the Yuletide cheer, the glorious feeling of warmth and expectation of seeing those you love, all together made Christmas and Christmas Eve so special. My family's ethnic dishes were exciting and delicious, made form love and hard work learned and handed down through the years.

Then something terrible happened that I am trying to live with, the destruction of those good feelings and memories. What happened? Life happened and it is the other side of what my expectations are.

It started about three years ago when my daughter fell and broke her leg. No one seems to know-how. Then the recovery to save her leg and be able to walk again began and it hasn’t stopped since. He hip broke and she suffered pneumonia and terrible wounds, and along the way, cancer of the colon. 

That was the surrounding that would make the horror stand out, the death of my beautiful daughter-in-law while giving birth to her second child. This was six-months after spending the holidays with us in 2017 with my granddaughter here in New York. It was the most memorable I can recall, eclipsing even those of my childhood. I had everyone under my roof for that special Christmas Day and it was magical.

This Christmas as was the last, it was going through the motions, playing on whatever there was to try to look forward to. This year was by far the worst! I was home while my wife went to California to be with my son and his kids. Everybody in that household got sick! A virus ripped through all the grandchildren, my wife, son and the nanny. Merry freaking Christmas! I didn’t go this time because I didn’t want to get a respiratory ailment, again as I usually do when I go!

Instead, I had an unexpected and pleasant surprise when I found out #2 Son, Mike, was coming for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!