Wishing The Holidays Were Somehow Here Again

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​WISHING THE HOLIDAYS WERE SOMEHOW HERE AGAIN

        Today is January 3. the holidays are officially over and it's time to start at least thinking about taking down the decorations,

...which are always so much more fun to put up than to take down.
        And yet somehow, this year it seems like the decorations weren't up long enough. In fact, this year the whole Christmas season wasn't long enough. It whisked in too fast, before I was ready for it to arrive, then went by in a whirl, and now today it's all over, and I'm no more ready for it to be over than I was for it to begin. 
         Of course, time moves no faster or slower from one year to the next and it neither contracts nor expands. But I think this year the holidays seemed so contracted in part because of the drawn-out remodeling of my kitchen, which was supposed to be done in mid-October but expanded out into November, through Thanksgiving into December, right up until the week before Christmas, and today as I write this the caulkers and wood-workers are back in my kitchen putting on what will hopefully be the finishing touches. 
​         With the frequent presence of workers in the house and my kitchen often in disarray or out of commission, I think the holidays - or at least my holiday spirit - got lost for too long in the shuffle going on in my kitchen and my brain. 
​        Until suddenly Christmastime  - and my Christmas spirit - was here, arriving with a week-long visit from my sister Romaine (see www.ailantha.com/blog/seeing-the-columbus-sights-and-lights),   

​...and again in the wee hours of Christmas Eve when my daughter, son-in-law, and grand daughters arrived in Columbus shortly after midnight from Los Angeles.

      The next day - which was actually the same day, December 24, but divided by half a night and half a morning of sleep - was a busy one. We gave the girls the job of decorating the tree, which I'd bought the day before on Christmas Tree clearance from Oakland Nursery, $29.99 reduced from $69.99.
      The job required numerous rest breaks.

      Next the girls built gingerbread houses.

    Then there were Christmas presents to wrap,

...after which the girls decided to make some rubberband jewelry and key chains,

...and open a shop in the kitchen in case anyone needed to pick up a last-minute Christmas gift.

      Meanwhwhile Tom and Justin prepared the candles for the luminaries which we set up along our block every Christmas Eve,

...while I worked on a ham-and-cheese stromboli for dinner.

     Just before sun down we set up the luminaries.

     On Christmas Eves before the COVID epidemic we used to host a carol singing and invite friends over for feasting,

...and singing.

     But on this Christmas Eve we feasted with each other,

...and afterwards I played and we sang the Channukah and Christmas songs just as we've always loved to do on Christmas Eve,

...while outside our luminaries lit up the street.

    On Christmas morning we whipped up our tradtional holiday brunch,

...aka The Big Breakfast.

     As our daughter Claire was working Christmas Day in the COVID ICU of her hospital, we Facetimed her and she joined us briefly,

...and showed us some of the treats the nuses had brought in to share for a little holiday party.

      After brunch we opened presents.

...and the rest of the day was spent playing games, 

...doing a puzzle,

...and otherwise amusing and busying ourselves,

...until it was time for Christmas dinner, which was mostly left-overs from Christmas Eve dinner and the Big Breakfast.

     After dinner we went to Creekside in downtown Gahanna to see the lights.

       Because of the recent surge of the COVID Omnicron variant we spent most of the rest of the holiday hanging around the house. On Christmas Day we called my sister Romaine, who told us that she, too, would spend most of the rest of the holidays hanging around her house. I believe it was my daughter who came up with the idea that since we were hanging around here in Columbus. Ohio, and Romaine was hanging around there in Portland, Oregon, that she should fly back out here to Columbus so we could at least all hang around the house together. 
        And so she did, and we all hung around the house together for most of the rest of the holidays,

...with a few exceptions.
       Back in November, when the COVID numbers were still holding steady and the hyper-contageous Omicron variant hadn't yet burst onto the scene, I had ordered tickets to the Van Gogh Immersive Light Exhibit for my grand daughters, their parents and myself for December 29. 
​       As it turned out, my son-in-law needed to return to Los Angeles for work and so Romaine used his ticket and we all went to see Van Gogh,

...my third time,

...and Romaine's second, as we went togeter last time she was in Columbus.

       Another day walked to Kroger's and back, three miles round trip.

      But mostly we stayed around the house, playing games,  

....or sometimes playing with the nativity scene,

...doing arts and crafts,

...baking,

... making pies with people's names on them,

...pitching in with chores, 

...eating,

...and doing other things.

      I can't say why the days flew by as quickly as they did,  but then suddenly it was New Year's Day and everyone was leaving. 

...and then the holidays were over.
     And now I find myself wishing they were starting over again and that this time the time would go by a little slower.