Christmas in Montclair.
Christmas was good. It was different. Among the kids – the next generation – there are now three married couples, and all three trying or planning to try to get pregnant, which means, hopefully, at least one addition to our Christmas gathering next year, and more to come. That’s different. Also different, Julian and Aleks were only able to spend part of Christmas Day with us, and not Christmas Eve at all, as they are part of separate family gatherings, and to a lesser degree the same was true for Lissadell and Justin. That’s also different. The times they are a’ changin’
Also still different, no Bev. This my our/my second Christmas without Bev. Last year, on Christmas morning I deeply understood what they mean when they say holidays are hard, but this year I missed Bev but didn’t feel the same insufferable weight of one year ago today. Is that progress, is that acceptance, is that moving on, or it just adjustment and accommodation, even though Bev’s absence is an intolerable thing to which I’ve had to accommodate?
Still, Bev was missing.
We had a lovely snowfall in Montclair, and so a white Christmas. I think it will be a long and cold winter this year. But a beautiful winter, and certainly a beautiful Christmas day. Kaye and I headed down and arrived around noon on Christmas Eve, and a festive couple of days followed. I’m only sorry I didn’t take any photos of Christmas Crackers being cracked.
The day was as full of gifts and good feelings as always, despite being less than there used to be, although maybe made up by the addition of Aleks, Jordan, and Justin over time. It was less frentic than usual, and that’s been increasingly true over the past few years, but today the day moved less frenetically and was broken into halves, with rest and other stuff in between, and was much more relaxed it seem (to me, at least).
Christmas dinner was not turkey. It was steak, cooked exceptionally well by Alan, and I made desserts, but in addition to Marilyn and Suzanne cookies and other goodies, I “overmade” desserts, with much uneaten, although everyone seemed to enjoy what I made. The pièce de résistance, however, which did get eaten, was the seasonal yule log I made, my first, and I’ve wanted to bake one for a while now. It came out well, and was easier to bake than I thought it would be, and it looked good too, and really didn’t need anything improved. Next time, different flavors perhaps, but otherwise it worked well (until it got knocked to the floor before even being eaten, that is, but was nevertheless rescued, and, aside from a loss of some ganache and the branches being split apart, survived well, could be put back together, and was well-eaten). Hurrah!
This Christmas also marks the first anniversary of Elisa and Nate’s marriage, who married on Christmas Eve 2024 (as did Bev and I, 51 years ago). They spent the day in Woodstock, NY, where they married last year.
Back home, it was lovely in the snow, as it always is.
