Shelter in Place, San Francisco, December 13, 2020
Another minimalist decoration I spotted on our neighborhood walk. It seems like folks are choosing one or the other extreme as ways to deal with a lonely holiday season. Same inside the house, I imagine: hunker down or reach out; be reverent or as silly as possible; decorate every surface inside and out or pretend that none of this is happening.
Personally, I’m finding comfort in the traditions: every ornament on our tree tells a story or reminds John and me of someone we love and miss, a melding of our pasts, a comfort in the present; my great-grandmother’s cookies that, by video, I have taught my grandson how to bake taste like Christmas and make both our houses smell delicious; the carols and songs I play on the piano because there’s no one here to sing with sound both sweet and sad: ‘have yourself a merry little Christmas…’ My heart is tender, but it’s full.