So this is Christmas....

My long and overly complicated relationship with the Season continues. I enjoy very much the get-togethers with family and friends, (almost certainly one of the great joys in my life), but am also reminded of the many who are no longer around for such festivities. Like many of you, when I was growing up, the period from Thanksgiving through New Year's was always a time of great social activity for my parents, with many dinners and parties given and attended. I enjoyed those occasions and the people who attended them very much. They were my friends too. And they are almost all gone. In fact, there are very few friends, relatives or good acquaintances I have left who are more than twenty years older than me. Such is the way of things at Christmas - old Marley weighted down with sins committed, and me with memories of lost friends. We rattle and moan - to no good effect.
At any rate, it is a time of contrast between the darkness of the earth and the lights of our various celebrations, and the contact between friends and the mourning for friends beyond such contact. As with every other time of year, I hope you have a happy, safe and healthy time; and for those of you who are young enough, I hope you build up a store of memories and friends as rich and satisfying as my own.