Christmas Season 2025/2026 -The Twelfth Day of Christmas: Mom, First Cigar of 2026

 Monday, January 5, 2026

First cigar of the New Year. It's been since the day after Christmas. 

Mom was supposed to be transferred to the TCU this afternoon but there was a scheduling mix up and they're going to have to wait until the morning. The doctor called and said he felt confident they had done all they could for her and that she's ready for the next stage of her recovery. He also reported that she was feeling a little discouraged today. I think it's setting in for her that this is going to be a long recovery. 

Christmas Season 2023/2024 - 12th Day of Christmas: 12th Night

Friday, January 5, 2024

The 12th Day of Christmas - 12 Drummers Drumming

Exhausting day at work. Laid back 12th Night here at home. Got a number of  Christmas decorations and tchotchkes put away. I'd like to have it all packed up by bedtime tomorrow. 

Light dinner of salads but had dessert to celebrate 12th Night.

Read this little book tonight. Very sweet. It reminded me of how much I loved Peanuts as a kid.

Christmastide 2021/2022 - 12th Day of Christmas: Twelfth Night

Wednesday, December 5, 2021

Took the decorations off the tree. Will take the tree down tomorrow. 

Asked Mom to send me a picture of her tree since I haven't seen it yet. 

She also sent me a picture of a cat ornament she made. She says she likes that one the best. 

Mom has placed a St. Nicolas figure outside the door of her apartment. 

Simple dinner of left-over tater tot hot dish. 

Christmastide 2021/2022 - 12th Day of Christmas: Twelfth Night

 Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Christmas village. 

Christmastide 2020: The 12th Day of Christmas - Twelfth Night

Tuesday, January 5, 2020

Quiet Twelfth Night. 

The Santa I ordered a while ago finally arrived today.

The 3 Kings arrive tomorrow.  Simple dinner of tuna open-faced sandwiches tonight. 

Christmastide 2019/2020 - Summary

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Interesting year. Not a bad one but challenging none-the-less. Dale and I reminisced this Christmas break about helping his parents move across state lines last Christmas break. We arrived home from that experience just a year ago yesterday. That was followed two months later with helping my Mom move from her condo to senior living. Big changes for our parents and a reminder to us that time is moving forward with little regard for our ability to process the complexity of feelings that go with those changes. 

Our church, Gethsemane, recently closed and that has driven the two of us to a lot of reflection. It's been a spiritual home and a meaningful place for both of us and it's been painful to see it go. However, we wonder if at times we gave too much and used the distraction of its troubles to keep us from tending to other important matters in our lives. 

During this break I had the desire to withdraw into myself. Usually during Christmas I want to spend time with others. I still made plans with folks, and in the long run I'm glad I did, but I was ultimately not wanting to spend time with others yet not wanting to be alone. I've been feeling more sadness than usual and I think on one level I knew I needed to process it. 

Dale and I were out for lunch on one of the last days of vacation and we both revisited memories that neither of us had shared with each other before. We think they were pretty defining moments in our lives where the two of us realized that we felt different from others and that we had to withdraw into ourselves and not share with others who we were. We felt that we learned to withhold things we believed risky to share and also started to not share inconsequential things as well. We learned to not get close to others and to withdraw. 

Christmas has always been meaningful to me but in my mania regarding it there's always been an element of using it as something of a distraction from life issues. After feeling like getting to the root of some of my pain the need for that mostly went away. Thus, as much as I enjoyed the season this year it was easier to let it go. 

Throughout much of this Christmas break I've held a few people in my thoughts. Of course, one is my dad. The cemetery where he's buried is just up the road from me. I think of him often but especially when Athena and I walk past his mausoleum. Another is Brian, an old friendship that didn't end the way I wanted it too and was never really resolved to my liking. Finally, Sharon, my dear friend from high school. I didn't find out about her death until many years after it happened when I ran into a classmate I hadn't seen in years who knew her. While taking down ornaments from the tree today I held them in my thoughts for a while. It felt like the three of them were actually with me. We might say I was visited by three spirits from the past. 

I decided to do a dry January this year and Dale decided to support me by doing one as well. A couple of close friends, Mike and Steve, have sung the praises of doing a detox month lately so I thought I'd try it out. We've both concluded that the ritual of drinking is what we miss more than the drinking itself. Mike and Charisse were over recently and once Mike and I were over the hump of not shaking up martinis we were fine not drinking. Related to this, the anticipation of cocktail hour is half the fun of cocktail hour itself. Not drinking has caused me to pay attention to some issues from my past, a few of them painful. This is a good thing. And my sleep since January 1st has been, well, incredible. 

Letting go of past anger allowed me to more easily forgive myself for hurting others and holding on to it for so long. In forgiving myself I found it easier to forgive others I feel have hurt me. Quite an epiphany for Epiphany. 

I've been feeling some sadness and melancholy with how fleeting life seems sometimes. But rebirth is the promise of Christmas and with that promise I'll move forward.

The Twelfth Day of Christmas - Christmas Cornucopia

Sunday, January 5, 2020

The tree, decorations, and tchotchkes are down. Dale and I sat down to listen to Christmas Cornucopia by Annie Lennox. 

I know it's one of Dale's favorites.

Mine too. 

The Twelfth Day of Christmas - Dad's Manger

Sunday, January 5, 2020

I took the big manger scene down yesterday - the Lennox Renaissance one that Mom used to set up on the buffet at the house on Stevens. For the life of me I can't find the wise men figures that go with that set. Where could they hav gone to?! Anyway, for today I set up the manger Dad made out of sticks for me when I was a little boy. This set includes the wise men. Now where could the other ones have gone to?

Twelfth Day of Christmas - Christmas Coming Down

Sunday, January 5, 2020

It took 4 hours. Including the tree. Listened to lots of Christmas music. 

The Twelfth Day of Christmas - Walking Athena

Sunday, January 5, 2020

The sun peeked out again today. Glorious. 

The Twelfth Day of Christmas - The Dayton's Project

Sunday, January 5, 2020

After Dale and I worked out this morning I had him drive me by the Dayton's Project which is occupying the old Dayton's Department Store space. 

This year they've done up some of the windows with Christmas displays to harken back to the old glory days of the store. 

The 8th Street corner windows featured Santa Bear. 

Very fun. 

And very nostalgic.

I hope they do it again next year too. 

Twelfth Day of Christmas -

Saturday, January 5, 2019

The journey home is now something of a blur in my mind but the good news is we made it!

Dale and I had a quiet dinner at home with a roulade for dessert. 

Christmas Season 2017/2018 - 12th Day of Christmas

Friday, January 5, 2018

Last weekday of Christmas vacation. Low key morning. Got an adjustment from Dr. Bob and then went to the gym with Dale. Still very cold but the sun was brilliant. Athena doesn't last long in sub-zero weather but she's getting a little more acclimated than she was when this deep freeze set in two weeks ago.

Christmastide 2014/2015 - Summary

January 6, 2015

Christmas really is a most wonderful time of the year. I'm so grateful to have spent this Christmastide with so many wonderful family and friends including Mom, Dale, Noel, Mike, Charisse, Warren, and  Gary. I love experiencing the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and emotions of this fantastic season with them.