Show Me Christmas

Growing up, I always had the opportunity to decorate two Christmas trees. One in my own home and one in the home of my best friend who lived around the corner. It was such fun to see the different traditions my friend’s family observed.

You see, my friend was raised in a Greek Orthodox household. Her mother and her maternal grandparents, who also lived in the house, emigrated from Greece in the 1960s. It was important for them to carry on their traditions in this new country. I think explaining to me, as we trimmed the tree, the significance behind various Greek Christmas ornaments they’d brought with them gave my friend’s parents and grandparents a lot of joy.

My daughter just graduated college in May, and much to our astonishment she was hired for a job in her field within a few weeks of leaving academia. It was a cause for much celebration in our family, but we had to cope with the fact that she would be leaving the house and living thousands of miles away on the East Coast. We continue to talk on the phone several times on the week, and she recently informed me that she won’t be making it home for Christmas.

I immediately felt awful because she won’t be able to spend the holidays with her father and I – or the extended family members that only get to see her once a year, if that. Still, there was no getting around it. She had to work every day except Christmas itself, which made traveling impossible. In an effort to cheer her up, I purchased a holiday gift basket online filled with handmade Christmas ornaments. I’ll be sending it just before Christmas so that it arrives at her door just when she needs it most.