Bah Humbug!

Christmas this year was almost non-existent. I was sick for much of the four weeks before and even though I thought I was excited it never really happened.

I did get to see my son’s kids a couple of weeks after Thanksgiving for a while – his ex-wife is a real pain. It had been several months.

Christmas Eve and Day was the same as always. Since 1980 I have spent Christmas Day alone except for a four or five year period during my second marriage.

For several years I spent the day rebuilding my main server. A yearly project that started Christmas Eve at noon and continued until two days after Christmas. It kept me busy and I didn’t miss Christmas.

I usually spent Christmas Eve at my father’s with my kids and whatever relatives came home.

For the last four or five years that tradition stopped because my father was getting too old to entertain a house full of people.

So for the last four or five years I celebrated Christmas Eve and Day alone. I was fine with it. My kid’s in-laws always had dinners and their mother had Christmas dinner.

I always make a ham and a cheesecake. For some reason this year I forgot to buy a ham but didn’t think of it until a couple of says before. Since I can’t drive and my kids live out of town I blew it off.

I made chicken instead and really liked it. I made the cheesecake Christmas Day afternoon. That night I never got hungry for it – a first for me.

The next day I remembered I had not done any of my traditions. ‘Christmas Vacation’ movie in the afternoon and ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ at night. I usually threw ‘Star Wars’ in there just for good measure.

I spent the day surfing the net. It seemed like it was in the Bah Humbug mood too.

The next day my eyes were acting up and I couldn’t do much of anything but listen to the radio. I did finally eat half the cheesecake.

Yesterday my kids and grandkids visited my father. He is not long for the world and his mind is starting to go. We kept the visit short since he tires so easily.

And today the Bah Humbug feeling is just as strong.

So if I seemed distracted this year, just attribute it to growing old and wishing things did not have to change.

As least I am not in a nursing home.