December 24th in the United States of America
Referred to as Christmas Eve. When I was growing up, until 1954 when I came here, we in Germany referred to it as “Heilige Nacht”. The reason and the most important part of Christmas, “Holy Night”, the Birthday of our Jesus Christ.
For eight years now I tried very hard to come through this night, not even talking about being somewhat happy and not just sitting in my little apartment crying and longing for my beloved husband, Hal of 64 happy years, who died after a long illness right after Christmas eight years ago.
If the question is: “are you getting over it, is it getting easier”? NO, I am not getting over this pain, nor does it get easier.
So this year I thought about it for a while and decided to share my pain with others here who lost someone or they need to share their celebration with me. We made plans to get together here in our community room between 6:00PM and 7:00PM. I baked some savory, little goodies, had baked a cake, my Hal’s favorite cake, out of Vincent Price “A Treasury of Recipes”. The cake coming out of the oven, still hot, gets a syrup of Orange juice, sugar and Grand Marnier poured over it.
YUM!
Yelena, a good friend of ours here on the first floor will bring the Champagne and we were ready to celebrate “Holy Night”. I had wrapped all the little gifts, attached Christmas cards for every one that might come and join us.
We all gathered, enjoyed the food and the cake with the Champagne. The conversation was lively, the happy faces of Yelena, Glenda, Brett, Bonnie, John, Glenn and myself showed how much this was needed and I myself did not once look for a clock, not important to see how slowly or how fast it moved.
Why did I not think of this before?
I have been here eight years now and suffered loneliness, pain and longing every one of these beautiful “Holy Nights”. I found a solution for changing my ways. Friends!
It is all about friends, and having them is the secret to overcome the sadness, loneliness and that lost feeling we all get, after loosing our loved ones. I am positive that the reason and purpose of my 98 years on this Earth is due to all the friends I gathered, while on this Earth, otherwise how could I have managed to gather that many years?
Friends are the reason.
The follow-up for this special night came today on Christmas Day. I had a visit from a dear, dear friend, Dorothy with her niece, who is a Sister and came to visit Dorothy for Christmas. Dorothy had been quite ill and still did not have her strength back, but this visit from her lovely niece perked her up and she seems so happy having her stay a while. She is a wonderful lady with a wonderful sense of humor, she could make all the problems, we humans seem to gather go away, just by her presence. I really cherished today’s visit and I am not only happy, I am so grateful!
Friends, always the answer.
I love that Ilona has found this beautiful community of friends and can celebrate the special holidays and events with them. They are all so wonderful, and I know they all love Ilona–like anyone who knows her does!
Marcie