Merry Christmas

Another month has gone by... and another Christmas has come and is now almost gone. I have come to the conclusion that what my 106-year-old Aunt Dolly has always said is really true... the older one gets, the faster time goes.

The after-school book club has ended for the winter break, to be resumed in mid-January at the elementary school. The students got their wands, choosing them very carefully to see which one ‘felt right.’  The neighborhood home-schooled kids also got to pick their wands last week, seriously choosing theirs from my book-shaped box of carved wood wands. Both events turned out to be festive occasions for the kids. The wand box does indeed look like a giant book, and the kids were relieved to know that I was not going to make them ‘read that big book.’

We had our Open House Christmas Party two weekends ago... about 30 people were here to enjoy appetizers and desserts and each other’s company. Corey was here with her ‘man’ and two of their friends, which gave a much-needed boost of youthful energy to the party. Neighbors were upstairs and downstairs and all the way up to the third-floor library... one of them counting Christmas trees and Santa figurines along the way. (Am I the only one here that has Christmas trees in every room?)

I spoke to aunts and cousins before the holiday, catching up with what was new in their corners of the world. We laughed at old memories and cried over new heartbreaks. It seems that for everything that changes, some things are repeated through each generation. There are seven generations now in the family legacy of my grandparents who came to this country via ship from Italy. “The other side,” as they called it. They left that other side of the Atlantic and never went back. Nor did most of us.

Another year... almost ready to burst with light in Times Square.  I guess no matter how many years I live in Texas, New York will always be the starting point for the New Year.  I will be watching that ball falling over NYC next week... and tears will be falling for those that have gone to yet another side of this universe... the side that does not require a ship for crossing.