It’s hard to believe, but Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before you know it.
Stores are already stocked with Thanksgiving tableware and traditional recipe ingredients, while simultaneously brightly lit Christmas trees and an endless stream of holiday décor fill aisle after aisle.
These are my two favorite holidays of the year, and I suspect many others would agree. I love the warm colors and the decorations; the holiday music and movies; the smell of freshly baked cookies and a turkey with all the trimmings permeating the house.
It’s a magical time of year that always brings about memories filled with joy and laughter, but it’s also a time for missing the people that are far away from your heart.
The unfortunate reality of this time of year is that you not only miss those who’ve passed on from this world, but also those who are geographically too far to share in the holiday festivities.
Those are the people I find myself thinking about this year with a heavy heart. I suppose that’s the major drawback of moving across the country – the distance it creates on the relationships that have come to mean so much to you. Family and friends who were once a part of your holiday normalcy have been relegated to video chats and phone calls, which aren’t the same as being there in person.
If only I had the financial resources, I could think of a few people I would love to surprise with an airline ticket and an invitation to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. It’s a gift that would bring such joy to the giver and the receiver – something not easily achieved in this materialist society of ours.
Yes, the holidays are a time for joy and celebrations, but it’s also a time when the heart misses those we hold most dear.
Jonathan Safran Foer writes in his book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close:
“I like to see people reunited, maybe that’s a silly thing, but what can I say, I like to see people run to each other, I like the kissing and the crying, I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can’t tell fast enough, the ears that aren’t big enough, the eyes that can’t take in all of the change, I like the hugging, the bringing together, the end of missing someone.”
