After 75 years of family festivities, we missed our family’s Christmas Day celebration. COVID had not even kept us apart. However, one share of pie before the big day sickened us, our family’s Matriarch and Patriarch, so we wouldn’t risk possibly infecting others with our presence.
In the past decades, however, the world has seen some tremendous technological changes that allowed our family to be together virtually and to capture many special moments in real time. In the days before smartphones, our son-in-law always brought his video camera to family gatherings, capturing what have become family treasures of times and people who have passed away.
Nevertheless, technology could not fill the void we felt by not being together in person, where we gave and received those special hugs and kisses, and we smelled the aromas of roasting foods or baked cookies and pies that filled the house. The reuniting of children with cousins and adults catching up after our last family gathering was also a missed reward that technology could not replace.
But, here’s the good news. There are several of us with birthdays in December and early January, which gives our family the opportunity to reunite again to celebrate–from a great-granddaughter turning three to a son exceeding 55. As long as we are together, there’s hope for a better future, and cheers to me for turning 76.
Our Unbounded Heritage: 12th Century & Beyond 