The McCollumn - 12/24

'Have Christmas' from Opelika's Scrooge

Truth be told, I’m not a huge fan of Christmas.

Call me a Grinch, Scrooge, or whatever Christmasesque villain you like, but it’s still not my favorite holiday.

Christmas, more so than most other holidays, is one that often reminds me of who isn’t there rather than who is.

My grandmother loved Christmas. It was probably her favorite holiday, and every Christmas Eve, we’d all gather together at McCollum Cottage and celebrate together.

We’d eat a huge meal, play the occasional game of Bingo and then exchange gifts, all heading home to wait for Santa by 10 p.m. at the latest.

Since she passed away in 2007, those traditions have fallen by the wayside a bit, as they naturally do.

It’s no one’s fault and it isn’t, I suppose, a bad thing.

It isn’t good or bad. It’s just different.

This year’s Christmas morning proves to be an interesting experience as well.

Normally, McCollum family Christmas is wrapped up quickly enough to give way to our annual Christmas brunch.

Normally, we’d know to expect a visitor shortly before eating: dear and recently deceased family friend John Vance.

John won’t be coming this year. There’ll be no Tiger Transit stories or funny jokes.

He won’t be coming ever again.

Even Uncle Tank and Aunt Sherri will be out of the mix this year, as they jet off to Honduras to help bring Christmas to the children of the orphanage they visit frequently.

I should be able to pull myself out of this depressing mood.

Know that it’s not my desire to be this way.

I’m just not a person who shakes off bad moods easily.

But, I think there may be a glimmer of hope for me and any of the rest of you that might be down and out this holiday, courtesy of some words from Robbi Beauchamp.

Start a new tradition, one that reminds you of the joys of the past without reminding you greatly of the sadness caused by loss.

Make a favorite dish or dessert that your lost loved one enjoyed and use it as a part of your holiday spread.

Find some piece of clothing or item that reminds you of them and wear it, keeping a little bit of them with you at all times.

If you feel up to it, include a small remembrance of them in with your festivities, as a clear reminder of what their life and friendship meant to you.

Christmas should be and generally is a time of joy.

Even in the face of sorrow and loss, we have to find ways to cope and deal in order to survive and move forward.

We’ll miss the folks we’ve lost along the way, but if we do our best to remember them, even in the smallest of ways, they are never truly gone.

Be merry.

Be happy and healthy.

Be well.

But, most of all, be willing to remember, even if it may cause you some pain and sorrow.

I close by simply saying “Have Christmas.”

No adjectives there, dear readers.

Make of the holiday what you will. Adjectivize as you see fit.