Christmas Milestones

The calendar for 2025 is a difficult one for a blog that publishes on Friday mornings. Today is almost a full week until Christmas day, which seems a little soon for Christmas content. However, next week’s publication will come the day after Christmas, when the mood for such things has passed. Oh well, we will roll with the calendar we have been given. For reasons I will get into, this year has me thinking of some memorable Christmas celebrations in my family.

Three years ago I wrote about the year that my parents came back together for one day – Christmas of 1966 – which came about halfway between the start of their separation and the conclusion of a divorce. As I wrote then, it was a strange day but a memorable one (thanks, in part, to the Kodak Instamatic camera I unwrapped and with which I documented the day). Thankfully, most of my more memorable holidays were memorable for better reasons.

The following year began our “two Christmas” system, with Christmas morning spent with our mother and Christmas with Dad following, either later that day or soon after. The photo above shows the aftermath of the “Mom half” of Christmas that year. But my most vivid memories from that year are of the only Christmas gathering at my father’s apartment, and where we were joined by my future step-mom and part of her large family. In this case it was our future Uncle Mervin (who was himself a recent divorced dad) and his two kids. Dad and Mervin were always close and I remember that day as a lot of fun and the beginnings of a relationship with a new part of my family.

I also remember what I think of as my first real “adult” Christmas. I was home from college and was working a night job at a funeral home (an experience I wrote about here). That year (possibly 1979 or 1980) my mother was working nights as a nurse at one of our local hospitals. It was an experience that completely up-ended our usual “let’s wake up Christmas morning and open presents” routine. I came in the door wearing my suit and Mom arrived shortly after in her white nursing uniform (that was still a thing then). Somewhere I have a picture of the two of us in our non-traditional Christmas morning outfits. It may have been a better time for us than for my sister, who we rousted out of bed earlier than she might have preferred.

After I married and had kids, we did our best to provide our youngsters with the kind of Christmas mornings they would remember. My favorite memories of those years include the morning our 2 year old woke us up Christmas morning. I was halfway dressed and ready to begin the day’s festivities when I looked at my watch and realized that it was something like 1 a.m. It’s funny that I remember nothing about the day after we got up the second time. There was also the year when our two boys (probably something like 6 and 4 years old) followed their normal morning routine and ran full speed from their bedroom to the basement family room to watch “Extreme Dinosaurs” on television. The funny part was that they ran right past a Christmas tree surrounded with presents and didn’t even see them. Marianne and I had to chase after them to let them know that Santa had come.

I am thinking about these memorable Christmases past because this is one I am really looking forward to. I have not written about it, but as we finished the end of our holiday season last year things at JP Manor took a dire turn when Marianne got as sick as I have ever seen her on New Year’s Eve. The following morning, our son in law (who is qualified in such things) recommended that we go to the ER. Our concern had been about Marianne’s state of hydration because of an inability to keep any fluids down. But then we learned that her symptoms were actually secondary to a stroke.

The first six weeks of 2025 saw Marianne in a hospital and then in a rehab hospital before she could come home. We were extremely fortunate in how well she came through the experience, without most of the nasty problems strokes often cause. The rest of the year has seen us settling into new routines to accommodate her situation, and we have both come through the experience reasonably well.

So for me, Christmas of 2025 will be one I plan to remember, if only because it could have been so much worse. We are, of course, supposed to be thankful at Thanksgiving. But I think that thankfulness is a good thing to keep in mind at Christmas too. There is a lot of work to be done around here between now and Christmas day, but I will try to keep my attitude of thankfulness in mind as that work gets done.

With that, allow me to wish you a merry, peaceful and blessed Christmas. And may your holiday celebrations be memorable for all the best reasons.

21 thoughts on “Christmas Milestones”

  2. My brother always said that as an adult, Christmas became kind of “meh”, until he had kids, then it got more heart felt again. Both Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed to have more impact on me when I was working, as compared to when I’m retired, where it just seems like another day. With both days now, I seem to use it for reflection on the past, tougher this year because I’ve had some impactful deaths of friends and acquaintances, most younger than me, so a cause for ponderation. May we all find our paths tho!

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    • I agree that things change with big holidays as we age. I have had some losses of old friends this year too, and you are right that it adds a sobering note. In my own case, the day is special because it give an occasion to bring the family together, something that very seldom happens on its own.

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  3. That’s the best 2025 story I’ve heard thus far this year. A year that in most ways I personally will be very happy to close the cover on and hope for a better one next year; but it sounds like your year has in some very important ways managed to get better and better…and that is indeed something to be thankful for.

    Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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    • Thanks Jeff! It sounds like I should wish you an improved 2026. But hopefully you can pull some good stuff out of your hat in the last couple of weeks of 2025.

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      • Thanks, J.P. And to mix my Jaws quotes into a bastardized metaphor, I think I’m going to need a bigger bad hat. 🙂

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  4. That is truly a blessing JP that she came through it so well! It must have been a very scary experience for both of you. I did wonder if she was well, as you had mentioned her not driving and your work schedule being better for taking her to medical appointments, in one of your blogs last year. As we get older, good health is the thing I worry about most. Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

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  9. Interestingly, I have written a similar post for Sunday which touches on looking back at Christmas through the years, memorable gifts mostly, but those bright spots I look back on as a person who dwells on memories only as I have no family now. One Christmas my mom was battling a cellulitis infection prior to Christmas and discharged from the hospital on Christmas Eve. I had my tonsils removed (a second time) on December 22nd and had green and red Jell-o for Christmas dinner, but these medical instances don’t come close to what you and Marianne have experienced since last holiday season. You alluded to Marianne’s doctor’s appointments when you mentioned your new Thursday/Friday days-off schedule and once you mentioned you were doing laundry downstairs in a post about being a handy Mr. Fix-it (with an easy chair I believe). I assumed there had been surgery, a hip or knee replacement.

    I’m glad Marianne is doing better after her hospital stay and rehab and both of you are adapting to a new normal. I have a good friend, my age, I’ve known for over 50 years and she had a life-altering stroke in 2021. Everything changed for her that day, but, Cherie, like Marianne, had the love and support of a wonderful husband that got her through this challenge. In fact, a fellow blogger’s husband had the same type of hemorrhagic stroke and left-side paralysis in June 2024, so I asked Cherie if she would be willing to reach out and help her with questions, suggestions, etc., especially regarding caregiving once he came home six months later, just before Christmas. They formed a bond and are still in contact today. Your holidays will be memorable this year JP, for all the right reasons, surrounded by family and their love. Thanks for sharing your year with us. May you have a healthier 2026.

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    • Thanks Linda, your good wishes for both of us are appreciated! Marianne was fortunate to avoid the kinds of paralysis that many experience from strokes, but she is a little unsteady and is periodically subject to some vertigo. Yes, it’s a new normal, but it could be a lot worse.

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