It's Just Us This Year

Holiday celebrations grow and change as the family grows and changes. Sometimes that's unsettling; sometimes it's an opportunity to reflect on the present and how much we really mean to each other.

That one house that goes nuts with the lights.

It’s Just Us This Year

Plastic limbs on the tree bend at odd angles
Glitter sheds from the fancy glass baubles
Tinsel draped over the mantle is a bit dusty
Most of this old stuff stays in the closet.

With the kids hosting Christmas dinner
We'll take our potluck and presents to their house
Where the grandkids are too excited to sit still while
Mothers-in-law carefully dance around our genealogies.

Used to be we'd drive around town on Christmas Eve
Me, my man and our little girl whose eyes gaped wide
At reindeer and inflated Santas swaying in the breeze
And that one house that goes nuts with the lights.

The laughter and joy matched our décor then
Huge tree with every ornament collected over time
Hanging on branches too weak to carry the weight
Traditions evolved, altered, came and went as we aged.

Our parents died, leaving us to step up in line
Family parties with tribes of cousins separated
Into nuclear bands scattered across the land
Soon the card list shortened and spirit waned.

This year, though, it's just the two of  us
Content with our elder status and success
Achy joints are slowing us down but as long 
As I can reach the top branch and spread
 
The skirt around the base of the tree
And if I can carry boxes from the garage
We'll have a few decorations here and there
And drive around town this Christmas Eve.

Rice pudding will taste as sweet as ever
Flirtations across our Holiday Eve table
Will be more than enough. We'll not be
short-changed, even though it's just us.

A tree with everything on it.

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