How are everyone's Christmas preparations going? Are you done with the present buying, wrapping, Christmas card sending, decorating, and baking?
I made two kinds of cookies last week and put the dough balls in the freezer. This morning, I baked all the cookies and after they were cooled down, packaged them into pretty tins and delivered to four neighbors.
I haven't wrapped a single gift yet. I'm still waiting on two more Christmas presents to come in the mail. Sure hope they arrive on time! Otherwise, admittedly, I'm a procrastinator when it comes to wrapping. I don't enjoy it, so I put it off as long as possible.
Last week, on a brilliantly sunny but COLD afternoon, Brian and I took a trip to Brookfield Zoo. We hadn't been there since our boys were little. The reason for our trip this time was bittersweet.
Every year, Wake the Nation puts up a Christmas tree at the zoo, along with the hundreds of other trees that are sponsored by other groups or individuals. Wake the Nation is a non-profit organization that brings drug awareness and education to the community, as well as providing support to those suffering with addiction and their loved ones.
As a lot of you know, our oldest son, Philip lost his battle to addiction in September 2009. He was just 21 years old. We have Phil's photo and ornament put on the Wake the Nation Christmas tree every year. Volunteers from Wake the Nation do a wonderful job of decorating this tree with loved ones ornaments and photos every year.
In all the years that we've had Phil's ornament and photo a part of this tree, we had never seen it in person. We've only seen photos that were posted on the Wake the Nation Facebook page. It was hard to see this tree in person...so many young people's beautiful faces and smiles, knowing that they were all no longer part of this world. Of course, it was especially hard seeing our son's name and photo on this tree.
In other goings-on, I had a lovely tea-and-chat visit with my aunt the other day. We hadn't seen each other since Labor Day, so it was wonderful to see each other in person again. We were careful...we've both been recently Covid tested (both negative), we socially distanced, and we didn't hug each other. Such a strange and unnerving time we're living in.
I won't be posting again until after Christmas, so here's hoping that all of you stay healthy and well and make the best of your holiday, no matter how you're celebrating it this year.
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