Is it bad form to blog a Christmas message to your loved ones? I don't know and, in a maelstrom of emotion, one loses all perspective. One day you're bumbling along and it's November; the next time you look up the count down to Christmas is dangerously near single digits and the card and donation request pile is blithely undisturbed.
This morning I did that. As I swung my feet to the floor it was the first time in weeks that I did not feel like I was stepping off a roller coaster and I opened my eyes to the good intentions blanketing my dining room table.
2016 was an emotional roller coaster which glided to a peaceful stop this weekend. My 60-year-old brother died after his valiant struggle with stomach/esophagus cancer. He was at home until the last 36 hours, ever positive and witty and enjoying his visitors. I was honoured to spend much quality time with him and his family on that precarious, emotional ride. And, yes, I am glad it is over for him and everyone who loved him.
So Christmas will happen again this year, if a little weary and tattered around the edges. A new year will be rung in and life will go on, as it should.
2016 was also an important year for Peter and I, as we celebrated 40 years of wedded bliss with a European river cruise. It really was worth it. (The trip. The marriage..... just kidding.) We also travelled to Mexico in January, Calgary in May to meet Caitlin's Mom and enjoy the hospitality of Darren and Caitlin in their new home, and moved to the cottage for the extended summer months where we enjoyed visits from many friends and family. Peter got in plenty of snowmobiling last winter and hunting and ATVing in the fall. Mom and I visited Dawn and Mary Anne in Florida in January and I was able to fit in my three weeks of Avoiding November in a Florida Condo with great girlfriends and Jackie. I have also enjoyed many weekends away with ski girlfriends, quilting friends and my sisters.
Jackie and Serge are always welcoming and I take advantage of the mother-in-law suite more often than I probably should. It's just that there is so darned much good entertainment to take in in Toronto. Now that Mary Anne has moved to Barrie, she may tire of my frequent visits but I am really hoping to fit in some skiing at Hardwood Hills some year before she departs for the warmth at New Years. Not this year alas but some day....
She and I are going to fit in a lecture by Ian Brown downtown and The Nutcracker at the Four Season's Centre this week, battling the elements all the way likely. But hey! Life is short and meant to be lived. Bring on the Sugar Plum Fairy in her sparkly tutu and tiara.
I'll be hugging my loved ones a little tighter this year and, if that means doing it through cyberspace, so be it. My one wish is for good health for all. (And maybe a little less bluster from south of the border please?) Merry Christmas, Elaine (and Peter).
