It is January 4th, 2014. Christmas has past and the meager decorations in our apartment have been packed away for the next senior couple who will reside here. Our decorations consisted of a 3 foot tree, pre-lighted, with a few clip-on ornaments. We also had two strings of Christmas lights which we put around our sliding glass door, and a small wooden sign which says "HOPE", given to us by one of our branch members. I did bring two of my nativity sets, small ones, and very simple. That was it. It took us about 5 minutes to set up the tree and other items (well, maybe 10 to get the lights to look right around the door), and less than that to put it all away. I was srtuck this year by how low-key it all was. The branch had nothing in the meetinghouse to indicate it was Christmas except for three small Christmas trees (no more than 8 inches high) which our dedicated branch librarian found and put on a table. I admit I wished there had been something to indicate that we, as a congregation, loved the Savior and celebrated His birth. We had a nice Christmas Day with Jaclyn--she opened three small gifts; and Paul and I opened a couple. I tried to imagine the gift-opening frenzy taking place in other homes. Ours this year was so serene it made me want to never go back to the stress and hoop-la of years past. We visited one of our members that afternoon. It was really nice, and so non-commercial. Have I made my point? I really liked it. Sorry I forgot to take a picture!
However, we came face to face with the loneliness that is reality to many people, especially older singles, during the holidays. Several of our branch members were, quite literally, all alone on Christmas Day. These are individuals who have adult children, living within driving distance, but who chose not to come to see their mother, or father, on Christmas. We visited with several of these individuals several times over the week of Christmas and New Year's, in person and on the phone. Of course, we were a poor substitute for their loved ones and I had to battle down some feelings of animosity for young adults who were so self-consumed that they couldn't reach out to a lonely parent. It made me wish I had been better at paying attention to Mom at all times (we did a decent job on holidays), when she was alive.
Winter is upon us in full fury. Next post will have pictures and details.
Sorry that the branch didn't do more. I actually don't remember if the church building had a tree or not when I was on my mission. I do know that my companion and I bought a large pineapple and put a tiny strand of lights on it (I have no idea where we got them from!) I can't remember if we cut it up and ate after Christmas or not.
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