The family will be here soon and with them all the joy and spontaneity that Christmas is supposed to bring. I can’t help but feeling that this is a last Christmas for us all. It has nothing to do with the ‘coming apocalypse’ and everything to do with the changing state of our family unit. The kids are getting older and the uncles and aunts are so far flung that it is difficult for everyone to gather with any consistency. I suspect the next year’s holidays will be spent in Iowa. I also suspect we will not be going. My wife and I have no desire to return to her state of raising. That place is mad gray.
If the holidays end up in Colorado, as they have before, we will surely attend. Flying would be too costly, but the distance is close enough to drive over the course of a day or two. We can make a fun road trip out of it; maybe we can even use the event to move into a different vehicle!
Perhaps the biggest part of my concern is that the kids are quickly losing interest in the traditions. They are all about running around and video games and what they can get from people. There isn’t a large sense of tradition or deep family values in them, and that is on us. They love being around family and being together, but so far as understanding what that all means, they are lost.
Maybe I expect too much from them. Don’t parents always expect too much?