Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Eid al Adha -- and if that doesn't cover yours, Happy Holidays!
Share your holiday memories here.
I'd like to share a note I got from a reader experiencing a loss this Christmas:
My loving husband of almost 40 years passed away on July 21 of this year. The path thus far for me has been three steps up and 2 back, but that means progress.
I would like to tell you what I have planned for this year — my first Christmas without my love. In September I realized that I needed to do something to 'protect' myself during the most sensitive holiday of the year, a time of celebration of each other, the loving of friends and family, and the renewal and promise of the new year.
Friends were contacted and the suggestion was no gift exchange — let’s do birthdays instead. Immediate family was sent checks to make the best selections for their family for me. The decorations in the house are simple with a bit of holly here, ivy there, entwined around a few candles and gold Christmas ornaments.
Then with the help of the staff at the O'Henry Hotel, I made reservations for two nights -- the 24th and 25th -- to be spent with them by myself in a delightfully appointed room. The hotel will be decorated and festive; reservations for one for the two evening meals have been made at the Green Valley Grill; there will be church in Greensboro on Christmas morning and movies in Friendly Center in the afternoon. A totally new and different Christmas and one that I can build on for future years.