A Holiday

December 24th, 2024

Today is my 68th Christmas Eve. I am camped out in the Sonoran Desert of southwest Arizona. It is warm here. My relatives and friends are elsewhere, so I am alone again this year for the holiday. Last year, I was in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota with my mother and sister. That was a more familiar type of family Christmas. There were relatives and friends, even a couple of little children. We had gifts to open and good food to eat. Of course, there were television programs like Lawrence Welk (Ugh) and Hallmark Movies.

It had been several years since that sort of holiday. I have to think back to the years after the boys finished high school when my older son still lived at home and my youngest flew back from college for the holidays. Of course, those weren’t necessarily the most stereotypical holidays. We were 3 bachelors, so we did the things we enjoyed like playing video games, eating pizza, and staying up all night.

This year, I am again alone in the desert. When I talk to friends and relatives, the question comes up “what are you doing for Christmas”. The answer seems a little sad I am sure. I will do the same thing as I have been doing for the previous 2 months. Which of course, are done alone.

However, I don’t really feel sad about it. Sure, there is a little feeling of nostalgia for the past. But, when I think about it, I am not sure it would have been much different were I still living in the house back in Oxford, Michigan. My sons are grown and have their own celebrations to attend with their significant others and their families. I don’t begrudge them that. Who would you rather spend Christmas day with? A family that is sharing gifts, eating great food, and engaging in interesting conversations? Or an old man who likes the quiet?

I chose the lifestyle I am now living and have come to terms with what can sometimes be a little lonely. In reality, my holiday will still be satisfactory. I will wake to the warming air as the sun rises over the peaks to the east. The Mourning Doves coo from the small tree outside my window and Gambels Quail are running up and down the wash. My first task will be filling the French Press for my coffee. Then I will check the news and wait. My boys will each call, or maybe we will text back and forth for a while. I will talk to my mother and sister in Minnesota. I will get to communicate with my two very good friends in Michigan, the sisters who migrated to the U.S. from India. Cheng, from China will also call or text. I will most likely talk to my friends from Minnesota with which I have spent many enjoyable canoe, ski, bicycle, and backpack trips. All of that will take up a good part of the day.

There will be food too. It won’t be what normal people would eat for the holiday, as I am on the Keto diet. On Christmas Eve, I will make Crustless Pizza. Since it will just be me, I will top it with sausage, pepperoni, and anchovies. I won’t have to worry about offending the olfactory senses of anyone else. On Christmas day, I will start out with coffee, bacon, cheesy scrambled eggs, and a bowl of vanilla yogurt to which I add blueberries. Towards evening, I will cook up a Ribeye steak in the Master Pan.

In the afternoon, I will get my 8,000 steps in for the day, most likely stopping by a couple of other campsites of friends I have met here near Quartzsite. I will do all these things on a day that will be 44 degrees when I wake, and 65 throughout the day. And, while that is nice, the main thing I will miss is the ground covered with snow.

“And that, of course is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, and the world seemingly most indifferent…” Taylor Caldwell

To all of you, my friends, family and readers, have a Merry Christmas?