Christmas Past, Present and Future

This is a  year of transitions for our little family.  Husband and I agreeing to sell the house put the transitions in motion.  We did all sorts of modifications to the yard and the inside of our house.  Next was the elimination of two trailer loads of stuff from that house.  And still more was sold after a contract was accepted.

A transition from full blown home ownership of 3 bedrooms and garages to apartment life is still in the works.  I mean we had been home owners for 44 years.  The transition from a life of acquiring to a life of letting go is still a daily challenge.  I am still working on how I want seating to work.  You see there really is not room for more than 2 dining chairs to be in the room.  The remainder will have to be folded or stacked in a storage room.  But I keep looking at sets of 4.  No can do.

These transitions are about things.  The bigger transition is realizing how very different Christmas Present is this year.  My Mom no longer has extra bedrooms or a fold out sofa for guests.  She does have the ability to walk again which is amazing.  We no longer have Husband's Mom with us.  Her passing is still catching us off guard.  Husband awoke yesterday wondering what to get her for Christmas.

Saturday while at my family's Christmas gathering word came of the passing of Husbands last aunt.  She was Uncle Ray's wife.    Aunt Martha was an in law only in name.  Aunt Martha was the kindest person I think I ever met.  A cruel turn of fate did not allow this woman to have children.  The nieces that grew up in the same town where Aunt Martha lived agreed she would have been the perfect mother. She was a nurse, a wonderful cook, a deeply compassionate woman and devout Catholic.  When Uncle Ray asked for her hand in marriage her father had one demand.  Ray who was not a churched person had to have Martha in church every weekend.  Uncle Ray promised and he did the best he could to fulfill that promise till the day he passed.

Transitioning from Christmas Past and all the memories of grandparents, aunts, uncles, mothers and fathers to Christmas Present is melancholy.  One corner of my consciousness is filled with the longing for one more hug, one more call, one more chance to exchange 'love you'.  I know both Aunt Martha and Edna are both in a better place.  Neither are in pain of body or heart.

This leaves us still here with Christmas Futures without these two wonderful women.  Two women that lived through the Great Depression and world wars.  They both were working outside the home before it was fashionable.  These type of women paved the way for young women of all ages to be more that ever before.  It is now up to those still here to carry on the work of women like these into the Christmases of the Future.

Rest in Peace, Aunt Martha.