Christmas.

It is no longer Christmas on the East Coast but here in Mountain Standard Time we have an hour and a half left of the official holiday.

We had a lovely Christmas dinner of ham and macaroni and cheese and a green bean dish of some sort. Dinner rolls rounded out the menu and it was very good. I’ve been drinking wine on and off all day and if it was any other day I’d probably delve into some other memories of Christmases past and share many anecdotes of how great my life experiences has been. Honestly, I miss seeing the relatives a little bit during this holiday season, but with COVID-19 and the dangers of contracting the disease from others in the world, now is not the time to fly back east to see the relatives. Luckily technology keeps us virtually connected.

We played board games tonight and we laughed and had good meals and just spent time together, the five of us, on this joyous of holidays. My mind is completely disconnected from the timeline; I have little realization as to what day of the week it is. (I know, it’s Saturday). There is no snow to be found here in this southern Arizona desert, but the weatherman promises snow on the mountains soon. I can’t wait to see that.

I’ve been watching clips of my favorite show, “Bewitched”, and leaving comments on YouTube about things I’ve learned about the production of the show over the years. It’s amazing to me the number of youngsters that think computers and CGI were involved with the special effects of the enduring series from the 1960s. No, they didn’t have anything called “CGI” back in 1964 when Bewitched first came out. That’s all a very clever use of wires, trick photography, and film editing used to make Endora and Samantha do magical things. A sign of me getting older, but these youngsters that think computers have been around forever are slightly amusing and slightly annoying. I’m thankful to be part of the last generation to know American life before the invasion of computerization.

We purposely kept gift giving at a minimum here in our desert home. A few shirts here, some jeans there, and some other trinkets filled the space under our main Christmas tree. It was quiet but it was beautiful.

Perhaps our most precious moments are not filled with what we received but what we remember. I am blessed with an uncanny ability to remember many things.

The key is to focus on the happy memories. Merry Christmas.