Well, Christmas has come and gone again, and this year it has gone by very quickly. Christmas seemed to come in a hurry after Thanksgiving, but that was at least partly owing to Thanksgiving being about as late as it could be this year, November 28th. We had a quiet Christmas holiday again this year. We were up late on Christmas Eve watching Christmas movies and putting together a Christmas jigsaw puzzle, after having our traditional Christmas Eve supper of chicken tamales, queso, and guacamole salad. Christmas Day was more of the same, although our meal was more conventional: ham, potatoes, and sprouts. We also enjoyed some Christmas cookies and cake, thoughtfully supplied by one of our baker cousins.
We had a large tree again this year, for the first time in about a dozen years. We've gone over to artificial trees because of allergies, and they are also less fuss. I miss the real ones, but not as much as I thought I would. For the first time in years we were able to get out all of our decorations and use most of them on the tree. We also now have a a mantel to decorate with stockings and swags of (artificial) evergreen. The house looks very festive, or the living room does; I didn't put any lights up outside this year.
This is when I generally look back and take stock of the previous twelve months. Our first full year in Texas and in our new house has been eventful. We've spent quite a bit of time and effort fixing up the house and yard, some xeriscaping around the side of the house, new drought resistant bermuda for the small front yard, new gutters and two 250 gallon rain harvesting tanks. It has been a good year, but not without its low points, including the loss of my mother last March. It was good being with her last Christmas, and I have missed her this year. Mom liked Christmas, especially gathering the family all together.
Boxing Day, December 26, the day after Christmas, doesn't have much significance these days, and never has been much acknowledged in the U.S. It was a day for giving gifts to the poor and Christmas boxes to servants and staff. Nowadays it's honored primarily as a bank holiday. December 26 is also the feast of St. Stephen, once celebrated in Ireland and also Wales with rather strange rituals involving dressing up as wrens, more likely a pagan holdover; but the feast of Stephen was associated with Christmas, as everyone knows from the old carol Good King Wenceslas. In years gone by Boxing Day for us was the day we went out shopping at all the after Christmas sales. But later I began adding Boxing Day to my own Christmas holidays when I was using up all of my use or lose leave at the end of the year.
Now I'm not sure what the significance of Boxing Day is for me, other than a day of summing up the old year and turning my attention to the new one coming along next week. I've long since stopped making new year resolutions, but I do make lists of things accomplished, and things still to do. And as I've noted previously, each new year for me begins with a birthday, so that I always feel I am not only making a new start but am also a year older. Ah, well, tempus keeps on fugiting into the future, to paraphrase Steve Miller.
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