Happy New Year!

For those reading this may I wish you a belated Merry Christmas. It made me sad to read the posts of not feeling Christmassy during 2021 Christmas. Believe me, I understand. I often felt the same way. Oh, I still put up my tree. We cooked our Christmas dinner. Even before Christmas I took time to finally take my son Kristofer trick or treating. It was something I always did with his older brother Jason when he was a child living with me in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Kris was disguised as Luigi this year. Last year he dressed as Mario. He got a good amount of candy. Of course Thanksgiving is always special for the simple reason that Kristofer was born the day after Thanksgiving. November 26, 2010. Our Thanksgiving blessing we call him. We had Thanksgiving dinner here at home. For the first time, Jason prepared his own Macaroni and Cheese from scratch. It was good well delicious to say the least. I regret not taking a picture of the entire tray, but I did take a picture of the plate I was fixing. Here it is. That does look scrumptious doesn't it?

For Christmas he cooked it again. It was awesome. 2021 was a rough year. The pandemic has continued to the point we had no income in our home. Both Walter and Jason lost their jobs. We are lucky to still have our home. For the summer of 2021, I got to see the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit which I enjoyed greatly. We also had new windows installed in our home (we got them on time and hope to God we can keep up the payments as times have been difficult) The worse was losing two of my best and closest friends. Tristian Comer passed away on May 7 apparently taking his life. Then there was Dorothy Paton who passed away on December 19, 2021 after a courageous battle against cancer. The passing of these two wonderful people has hurt terribly. I can't express just how much they meant to me. Years ago they were both instrumental in helping me cope with one of the worse experiences of my life. Even from a distance they managed to do that. Losing them both...facing the holidays without them... Tristian and Dorothy loved my writings. They read my poetry. They listened... like I said its been really hard. I miss them. I love them. I'll never forget them.

Its hard to keep losing people especially as we age. I want to let you know how much I value the support you give my Christmas Daily page as well as my writings (many of you have done both and I appreciate it more than I can say) I love you all.

And speaking of loss. Not one Christmas passes that I don't remember my father who I miss every day of my life. As many of you may remember he passed away on October 4, 2016. He was the one as I often point out was the one who decorated our tree every year. He cooked the Thanksgiving turkey every November. He valued the Epiphany on January 6 and wanted us for those dinners as well. Then there was my nephew Luis Garcia who passed away on September 24, 2019. He was hit by a speeding car which took him from us so suddenly. My nephew and I used to have a lot of fun. I can still see him as a baby and little child. We loved talking about conspiracy theories and family memories. I miss him too. I love him; my dad, but maybe its not needed to say that. Then why not? Frankly these past few years have been hell. I apologize for I know this is a Christmas blog. Technically a Christmas website. But Christmas is a time to remember loved ones including those we lost. I know many of you have lost many as well and I sympathize. I offer my own condolences. I have read many of your comments declaring hands off to Christmas because its impossible to decorate or feel any Christmas spirit when you've lost a loved one you shared the holiday with. Belive me, I do understand where you're coming from. However, I hope I can at least make you consider why you shouldn't permanently do this. Our loved ones may be gone, but they are also here. In spirit. In your memories. In your heart. While decorating a tree may be painful; how about doing something to honor the person during the holiday? Perhaps buy a decoration which I've done in my father's honor. In fact, I even did this for a beloved pet we lost in 2007. It has brought me some comfort despite the painful memories. It has helped however. If you are alone perhaps you can consider volunteering during the holidays? Visiting a hospital. An orphanage. Sick people and orphan children are examples of those experiencing loneliness during the holiday season. A visit can help them and you. Its definitely an option that can help keep the holidays alive in some way. Let me tell you Christmas is not the same without my father. Its just not. However, its remembering him that motivates me to continue the traditions he set for us to follow. Its not the same and it hurts to remember. But I love the holidays too much to simply hate them when I wont be here to always enjoy them. That's how I try to handle it.

This is the last Christams tree at my Mom's house. My brother has been the one who has been putting up a tree and this was beautiful. I wanted so much to visit my mom on Christmas Eve, but decided not to take the chance again because of the continued pandemic. I will explain more on this later.

Here's one of the decorated homes from my neighborhood. I love how this came out. I must conclude this blog but I am not finished. I will add another blog either next week or in the coming weeks. There is more to share believe me. Please feel free to share your comments. If you want to send me any pics or memories you can to my email at sonicmets1970@aol.com. A few of you have shared pictures I was happy to post in past Throwback moments in past newsletters. I will love to continue doing this. I will make every effort to post blogs regularly again. I know its been a long time. Merry Christmas to you and hope your new year will be filled with good health, peace, and happiness. I can see the full moon as I write this.