I always think of my parents on December 28th. They were married on December 28, 1935. 85 years years ago today. The ceremony was held in my mother’s childhood home, on Wildwood Street in Winchester Massachusetts. For the man who was to become my father, it was his third wife. His 2 previous wives had died, tragically. He had 3 children by his 2nd wife. These 3 children attended the wedding in Winchester in 1935. They were aged 11, 9, and 8. Every once in a while in later years, my sister Ruth would tell me little snippets about the wedding. Those memories mean more and more to me as the years go by. Ruth told me how they felt rather awkward but my grandmother was so kind and made them feel more comfortable. These memories have merged with another wedding a year later when my sisters were flower girls at my aunt’s wedding. Again my grandmother came to the rescue.

(These memories are meaningful to me in that I was too young to have any direct memories of this grandmother who died in 1940.)

Spending this Christmas 2020 far away from our family members in Connecticut, Ireland, and even Seattle. FaceTime telephone calls brought us closer ………. but still we have spent the day isolating ourselves in our apartment. There were occasional knocks on the door – an aide bearing pills for Ian (my husband), another knock on the door – breakfast delivered by 2 more people, then the nurse to check on Ian’s strange red spots which are itchy and sore, another knock on the door – Christmas dinner – 2 cardboard containers with a small scoop of mashed potatoes, 2 thick cuts of turkey with gravy, a few string beans, dessert, another pill, and a knock on the door at 4:30??? early evening meal – cuts of beef in a salad and a VERY thick rich- in-chocolate desert. The powers that be wanted to let the staff go home early.

It’s puzzling to me how many of the 300 residents are here for Christmas.

Where have I ever spent such a strange Christmas? After my college years there were many years when I did not have a home of my own to go to for Christmas. It wasn’t until I married and had children that the pattern of a traditional Christmas emerged again. And then our family spent so many years in different countries in tropical and sub=tropical countries. And Christmas was different each year. But I do have certain expectations. There are certain things that one tries to replicate each year, no matter the circumstances. And that is what 2020 has been. Thanks to the broadcasting services and the telephone and face time and zoom and the postal and delivery services we are rich in the customary traditions.

I have been daydreaming – has there really ever been a year when I had a “bad” Christmas?

In my previous blog I used an account written by Florence Reid Willis who is one of my contemporary relations – a 2nd cousin. DNA analysis suggested that we were 5th to 8th cousins. But on closer examination we found that we were 2nd cousins. We share the same grandmother – May Belle Willis.

Florence Reid Willis is the daughter of one of my grandmother’s brothers.

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