This holiday season is different from any I’ve experienced in the past. There is the obvious–the pandemic is curtailing any gathering with friends and family. But this is also different because we are now living in a 23-foot small trailer, with no room for a tree. I find I’m missing the annual ritual of putting up ornaments more than I anticipated.

Because my parents passed a long time ago, as did my husband’s, we have a

lot of ornaments from our childhoods. In my former life as a technical consultant, I did a lot of travel and picked up ornaments along the way. We also have done that as we traveled.

But it’s the memories that go along with tree decorating that I also miss. When the kids were little (the blended family had five), I’d make a pot of chili and we’d crank up the music. Every year I bought the kids ornaments which they have in their own homes now. When it got down to the last two kids, and the marriage ended, for some reason I went to the tradition of turning on The Sound of Music during tree decorating.

No matter how life is this year, it is also the season of Advent, an anticipation of something wonderful showing up in our lives. It is also the time of miracles, from oil that lasted beyond expectation, to the anticipation of a vaccine given to us by our very talented global scientists.

So, I will look at the world as it is right now and hope for better times, meetings with loved ones in the near future, and a better life for the world. Have the best holiday season you can.