COVID kept us from the Christmas we wanted. My dear mother wanted to come and see us, one last time. She’s, fortunately, in excellent health. But, she fits clearly into the high risk category. But, she understood as did we, that this Christmas was an ending.
My lovely wife and I were married December 19th, many years ago. We were married in December because we were on break from school at BYU. We were both from the Pacific Northwest. We drove home for winter break, got married and then drove back to school to prepare for the start of the next semester.
Our first Christmas was just the two of us. We bought a simple 2 foot Christmas tree.
We still have it and. Put it up every year.
Over the years, our family grew, of course. Adding children through birth and then through adoption. Later through the marriage of our children and the addition of grandchildren.
But, this year is different. This is the last year we have kids in school; high school. We have five kids actually living at home right now. Two high schoolers, a college student, a local service missionary, and a son about to leave for a two-year mission.
Next year? Who knows. But, the college student will probably be on his own. The two high schoolers will likely be either off at college or on missions themselves. It could be just the local service missionary will be at home. We may go from five at home to just one.
Our older kids will be even more involved with their own families.
This is what the future will be like, I guess. Just as our family grew over the past years, we will continue getting smaller. It’s what my dear mother understood and why she wanted so desperately to be here this Christmas.
I’m not complaining. . .too much. My family is all healthy, even though several have been COVID positive. We got to see more of them then we might have. And everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We even Facetimed with grandma.
Welcome to the New Year. May it be happy and healthy for you and your family.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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