Holidays go on

Joy packaged in a furry bundle.

Christmas with the extended family was today, and the little guy in the picture made my day. His tail never stops wagging as he runs around exploring, chasing kids and looking for cuddles. He was pretty much the only thing that was going to make me feel better today.

Not sure why but this morning I was hit hard by sadness. Christmas -- and all family oriented holidays -- churns up an ache for all the people who are no longer here: my parents, an aunt who was my second mom and best friend, and her son who was more of a brother than cousin. I miss them all but memories of my cousin can turn to tears in an instant, and that's what happened this morning. Holidays are rough because all the people I grew up with are gone. It happens to just about everyone eventually, but it happened so much earlier to me and my brother. There's a country song Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old). That sums it up.

Holidays go on, though.

I was late getting there because of the four inches of snow that had to be removed from my driveway first. The temperatures dropped to the teens yesterday so it was a dry snow, but man was it slick underneath. The driveway has a fairly steep slope at the bottom. Although I was being careful, my feet slipped out from under me as I lifted a shovel of snow. I twisted on my way down to try to break my fall and avoid landing on the shovel. Totally messed up my lower back.

My brother didn't get to get together with the rest of the family. He works in retail and no one was getting the day off. I came home mid-afternoon to wrap his presents, make a cheeseball he likes and get everything packed up. We do Christmas at his house because he still puts up a tree. I haven't decorated since my cousin died. Just can't get into it and decided it really doesn't matter.

Our evening was nice. He liked the Fitbit and sofa table more than I expected.

I'll take lunch to his house tomorrow and hang around for awhile. That will wrap up Christmas for this year.