Where’s Jon when I need him most? It’s time — past time! — to get our annual Christmas card composed and into the mail and I haven’t even started.
That’s not quite true. I’ve got the family photo part under control. I started that during a trip to the Midwest in September.
There I am, standing on the deck of an Airbnb, testing positive for covid — with Peter, his wife and kids socially distanced on the lawn below me.
And there I am again at Thanksgiving, posing with Christina and her husband, on the deck where the annual Newhall Christmas photo has taken place since the beginning of time.
No, It’s not the annual family photo that’s stopping me. It’s those goldarned lines of holiday doggerel that Jon insisted on composing every year, scanned to the tune of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
It was always Jon who got the project started, right after Thanksgiving, with twenty or so lines of cornball poetry. In the 2020 pandemic year, he wrote this:
“‘Twas the year before Christmas and all through the house. Not a soul has dropped by. It’s just me and my spouse.” (Doggerel. I warned you.)
This year, without Jon to do his share — the lion’s share — of the poeticizing, I haven’t had the heart to write that darned poem. My poet’s license has gone missing.
My first attempt at a widow’s Christmas card, therefore, will be on the slick side — a generic holiday greeting, a generic sprig of holly, and a pair of photos featuring seven shining faces looking into the camera.
The faces are nice. Holiday appropriate. Cheery. Hopeful. Including mine.
Read about the real Newhall family at, “The Truth Behind That Happy Family Photo We Just Sent You.”
Bless you this Holiday Season!! There is absolutely no reason for you to not venture off on a totally different path. We all come to a point in our lives, regardless of the situation, when we just can’t do the traditional thing any more. Be brave, you’ve got this!
Thank you, Tammy, for the encouraging words. It’s hard to let go of things that connect me to Jon. But it helps to feel that I am doing something that connects me to some part of myself: this year’s card will be on the flowery side — something that would not have reflected Jon’s personality all that much.
I really loved working with you and Jon (mostly Jon!) on that jingle. Slick and generic sounds good, but if you want to bring it back, I’m here to collaborate.
Thanks so much. But Jon always drafted the first version, which is a big project, and I couldn’t bring myself to get going on that. Maybe next year!
We still have your 2020 Christmas card up on the fridge. In fact, it’s the only Christmas card up on the fridge, and it’s been there since Feb. 20, 2021. I have a feeling it’ll be up there when you come visit.
Also, another recent dream that took place in a vast hotel lobby — my dog was playing with Uncle Jon’s coati mundi Pancho, and Uncle Jon was happy and upbeat, trying to cheer up an uncharacteristically morose Cindy. He and I were about to sit down to play our first game of chess, but sadly at that point I woke up.
Maybe you woke up because you knew Jon was going to beat you soundly! Meanwhile, thanks for these dreams. For some reason, I don’t have them.
doggerel? i’ve loved every one of those cards and poems, saved many and moved them from the west coast to the east and halfway back. looking forward to the seven shining faces this year
We always felt it was just fine to write that cornball stuff — knowing that our friends (you) would laugh along with us.
Ralph also used to write our xmas letter and I miss those witty takes on the happenings of our year just past. So as I try to get into some form of joy this year, I fly to CA to spend time with the “kids”.
Some people have a knack for writing great holiday missives. We miss them!