seasonal changes

by Rain Trueax

November 29th-- moon setting with the sun from our desert home, Casa Espiritu

How can it already be December with another year nearly gone? Where did this year go? In terms of my writing, I published nothing in 2019. I did write a book but the decision of when

to bring it out kept getting changed. It will be a pre-release, which I'll write more about another time with a firm date set in January 2020-- making it come out before Imbolc, when the story is set. I did not intend to have nothing new for over a year, but it just worked out that way. 

Because of the aftermath of travel, we had debated having a Thanksgiving dinner but ended up doing it with turkey and all the trimmings. This is the holiday season; but after getting the farm ready to leave and then the long drive, I am having to work to get into the mood. 


I will admit holidays are tough for me since the kids left home and began their own lives with other families to consider. I used to go all out on decorating with a tall, real tree, ornaments from our childhoods and new ones we'd buy, two Christmas villages, and of course a nativity. Right after Thanksgiving, I'd go outside and collect greens for the mantle and throughout the house. There were angels and Santas along with other imaginary Christmas figures. For years, I fixed big dinners that would involve family and others we knew nearby who didn't have family. I loved those years and am glad I had them. 
 
Now, though it's different. It is just us. For some years, we'd make sure we stayed in Oregon until after Christmas. Usually, we ended up alone. It's not that there are difficult feelings with the kids but just they have their own lives and coming way out to the farm was not what they needed to do for that. Our daughter lives several hundred miles away. Our son had his wife's family to consider. Things changed.

Here's the thing-- change does not have to be bad. In my case, I have a lot of good memories of Christmases past including of my childhood. How I spent it has changed a lot in those many years. I think it's up to us to make the best of whatever we have-- for as long as we have. Our son will be having his Christmas at the farm where he'll be feeding the stock as well as beginning his own traditions for that home.


When we came to Arizona this time, we brought with us the natural looking but artificial greens as well as fake cranberries and real pine cones. I had been using them in Oregon, after it turned out real trees and greens gave us sinus problems. Discovering how realistic the artificial ones looked, I bought a lot of them. Right after Thanksgiving, I put them out here for the first time. They mix together well with the rest of our home being Southwestern.

Last year, because we were in the road, we spent Christmas in Orange Grove RV Park with our four cats; so this house got no decorating. I think this year, it makes it happy that a piece of a family Christmas has returned.

I debated buying one of those nice artificial trees, the ones that look so real. They are kind of pricey, and this is a small home without a lot of room for a tree-- not to mention those four cats. I might yet change my mind, decorating it maybe with natural things like pine cones. Or maybe that'll be for next year.