This holiday season was rough for me emotionally. Last year we left town, went to Canada and didn't return until it was all over, so I didn't have to even think about Christmas without my husband. This year that has been continually on my mind.
I spent Christmas Eve at the home of my good friends Elizabeth and Willie. There were a lot of people - their kids and grandkids, E's father and his wife, W's brother, the brother's former wife, their kids and grandson. Like I said, it was a crowd.
The tables looked lovely and the food was delicious.
The grandkids had some kind of flashing ice cubes that were fascinating to watch.
After dinner we gathered in the living room to open gifts. Here are the cute little grandkids just before the presents were distributed.
I should have taken pictures of their traditional end to opening presents - basically it's a snowball fight using the gift wrap. No one is exempt from being a target.
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Christmas morning I went to Ballard and joined Neal's niece and her boyfriend for the rest of the trip to the farm. There had been a little excitement at her apartment the night before. The upstairs apartment had a leak of some sort that flooded the lower apartment. When I arrived the disaster folks were there and had just set up 5 huge blower fans and some kind of suction thing to get up all the water and dry the walls and carpet. It was very noisy.
We took the ferry to Kingston and drove to the farm. Neal's youngest sister has been redecorating her house with a lot more Asian accents and everything looked very pretty. The kitchen is still a work in progress (built-in oven and countertop stove being replaced with a conventional stove) and it isn't finished so I will wait to post views of the kitchen. But I love how she set up her workroom with a cabinet in front of the desk.
The new light she wired in over the dining room table is very striking.
We ate, opened gifts, had dessert and hung out for awhile before driving back to the ferry and returning to Seattle.
I have some kind of mental block about driving in Ballard and have a perfect record for getting lost every time I try to find Mileva's house or try to drive home. Even with the GPS I seem to end up on the wrong streets. I know it's not that hard but somehow my attempts to find main roads are not successful. This time I wanted to go home on I-5 because I had no desire to take Aurora through downtown Seattle that late on Christmas night. But when the road split I guessed wrong and found myself going south through the Battery Street tunnel and out onto the viaduct. It was very pretty, I had a glimpse of the ferris wheel all lit up, but I knew I had to get off before Marginal Way or it would be very creepy. Turns out Atlantic Street was pretty creepy as well. Mine was the only car, there were no lights and I had no clue where to go. The GPS finally spoke up and said "turn left" so I did. It was a relief to see Safeco field and an I-5 on-ramp.
So that was my holiday. I am so grateful that I had someplace to go and the opportunity to spend time with others because when I am by myself all I can think about is how much I miss my husband. When I think about the things we used to enjoy at Christmas - eating Holy Land type foods, reading scriptures about the Savior's birth, enjoying the lights and music together - all of that just seems so lonely without him. Then I think about how this is how all my holidays are going to feel and it is just overwhelming. Others have invited me to their homes but that would be with their loved ones and I would feel like an observer.
I did see the lights at Coulon Beach this year. I've "seen" them from the parking lot before but it's a much better experience to walk out on the ramp and see them from the chilly water side.
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