Holidays.....

 I enclosed this reminder in our holiday cards last year, and this year I'm again reminded that the Christmas season and beginning of a new year can be rough and confusing for many of us. 

Whether your memories are good or bad, I think there is often a sadness to this time of year, sometimes when we look back to what we had and sometimes when we look back to what we didn't have. 

I was lucky. My Mother made Christmas look easy. She made sure my brother and I had great presents tucked under the tree and she filled our stockings with fun doodads and on any given night she effortlessly added extra plates to our dinner table. She also geared up her cooking and baking. I'm realizing that I am pretty much following her patterns; but in my own way, because I'm also following my Turtle Approach and not letting anything I love doing become a chore. I wonder if she did that too, because I never heard her complain.

This weekend JB and I are hosting our first Girlfriends' weekend in two years. (Damn Covid!) Three of our friends are staying with us in Provincetown, and on Saturday night we're having a greatly reduced version of our Holiday Potluck Open House. This means cooking and baking and drinking and socializing, all my favorites. We've put up a live Christmas tree with old fashion lights and I've made gift boxes that include our home made Kahula.  Last night JB and I frosted our almost famous sugar cookies. We'll end up making four batches because our daughter and son-in-law want two batches and even then they try not to share them with their kids. (smile.)

So all this is to say I'm doing well this season. And to acknowledge that this is not the case for everyone. It's a good idea to keep an eye out and lend a hand to the people around us who would love a card or cookies or a dinner invitation or time to share and listen. And that includes ourselves.

love kj