It's been just the two of us today, and right now is the first time I've opened the laptop since last night. Aside from a few peeks at Twitter, I have let the world turn without me. It's been as good a rest as a vacation, and I will continue to take the night off, go to bed early, and take up my pen (or pixels, I guess) again tomorrow.
I am now 65 and have lived alone for a number of years. So I started this tradition of inviting fellow "holiday orphans" over for a bang-up home-cooked dinner at Thanksgiving and Christmas, which helped alleviate the heartache, and we had wonderful times. You might be surprised by how many of us "holiday orphans" there are. At my dinners, there is only one rule: do not mention why you are a holiday orphan . Because it absolutely does not matter. And we have a blast. I set a very pretty table with my French great-grandmother's ironed and starched table linens and gigantic napkins, my heirloom French china, crystal and silver, and then I lay out a feast. But we couldn't do that this year. How I look forward to 2021, a new year after this annus horribilis, with that orange-faced monstrosity gone from the White House, sanity restored, and vaccines on the way!
On this Christmas night, I feel an opportunity to reflect on how this ‘richest country in the history of the world’ can have so many citizens who are hungry, homeless, jobless, and in want of basic necessities. I feel it appropriate to question our assumptions, about free market capitalism, corporations, rugged individualism and materialism.
This holiday, so basic to our society, has little to do with the birth of the baby Jesus. May we also question the basic story of our civilization, the magic birth of an infant, said to be the child of God, who lives in the sky and offers salvation after death. But only to humans who believe in this tale.
The two of us are alone as well and feeling grateful to have such a wonderful family that we are looking forward to seeing. One granddaughter spent her Christmas Eve as part of an organ transplant team that helped six people live to see another Christmas. Another granddaughter is an RN in oncology that was able to get her COVID vaccine Wednesday. Our daughter also is an RN working in a clinic. Another daughter is a teacher who has worked overtime keeping in touch with her students and trying to bring the best educational experience possible these days. My son has devoted his time to make sure his 10-year-old daughter not only gets her schoolwork done but also has physical exercise and just good old fun. My daughter-in-law coordinates on-line meetings throughout the world working long hours. So, yes. I am proud of them and all of the people who are making our liveable and survivable right now.
Heather - I am officially "retired" after forty years on the theology faculty here at BC (though invited to return to teach my course "Spirituality and Sexuality" each fall) . I want to share how tremendously grateful I am for the extraordinary dedication and effort you have made "above and beyond" to serve the country by providing an insightful, clear-eyed historically informed perspective on our contemporary crisis period in the national life ( in part by reminding us that we have been down this road as a nation before ). Between your daily analysis and reflections and those of my friend Robert Hubbell in LA, I feel I begin each day clearer and more focused on what is being asked of us who want to serve the best version of our country possible. (about an hour of morning prayer and yoga also helps to maintain sanity and perspective).. THANK YOU ... so proud to be a colleague on faculty with you at this institution., John McDargh
Two of us here, but we drove in to DC to drop presents off for my two grandchildren with a socially distanced meeting in front of the house and in the freezing cold. I also feel blessed in that I am in the sixth week of recovery from heart bypass surgery and doing well. 2021 looks good to me.
I, too, am alone and blessed. I've celebrated my 72nd birthday alone. All of the holidays, alone. But yesterday was a lovely surprise when two Catholic University students delivered a Christmas dinner from the Basilica of the National Shrine for the Immaculate Conception. Later friends and colleagues from my Foggy Bottom West End Village delivered their own beautiful home cooked meal. I have celebratory food for days. I am appreciative of the kindness and generosity.
Unlike pandemics of the past, isolation is easily broken with ZOOM gatherings, video calls with family, and streaming services with excellent entertainment.
The downside for me has been cancer diagnosed just before the pandemic took off. Because of health system demands, my February diagnosis was supposed to have surgery in April. It got postponed to late June. It turned out that I'm too fragile and vulnerable to clots and infection. So, instead of traditional chemotherapy, the metastatic cancer is being treated with pills that have bad side effects. Now, my only outings are for treatment and physical therapy for lymphedema.
I pray that the medical professionals who treat me can stay healthy until vaccinated and aren't overwhelmed treating COVID-19 cases.
You might have figured out that I live in Washington, DC. We're not a state, despite having a population higher than Vermont, Wyoming, and a few other states. We were only given about 6500 vaccine doses to treat the 54,000 medical professionals who work in the District. But guess what? Our small supply didn't go to our medical people. It got commandeered by the government to vaccinate government officials, many of whom could have been vaccinated in their home state. Some are leaving office in a few weeks. Many of these officials and their spouses have down played the pandemic, even calling it a Hoax. Yet they and their family and friends are getting the vaccine first.
DC is really a region. Many work in one location but live in another. So Maryland and Virginia shared some of their much larger and not commandeered vaccine allotment with DC to vaccinate health care workers who may live in their states but work in DC.
DC is also under assault by Trump’s Proud Boys. They've happily donned a uniform of black shirts print with scary code, such as "FOFA." The company from whom they've purchased their yellow plaid kilts has disassociated his firm from them, discontinued the color, and offered replacement with another color or refunds to people who purchased the yellow kilts but are not Proud Boys.
So I pray for recovery and that everyone stay safe in what will be disturbing weeks as Trump is pried from office. Trump has called the Proud Boys to come to DC on January 5th and 20th.
We are very blessed at my house. My siblings are safe and my sister who works at children’s hospital got her first shot on Wednesday.
I am also blessed because you have walked with us these last years (I started following you a long time ago.) I’ma better activist because of your work.
Thank you so much. May 2021 bring us some comfort and joy.
Heather, you have been a treasure to this community, and I'm sure your family feels the same, even when you can't be together. My family has been fortunate, too, so far. Your symbolism reminds us that this darkest time of year is really the beginning of new light. No matter how difficult these years have been, at least we know that sanity and stability are about to take hold, and we will be able to mend after the multiple disasters.
Thank you for your clear-sighted perspective and steady ship. It has been invaluable to us.
Thank you, Dr. Cox Richardson. You are so right...We need to count our blessings as we reach out to to help others less fortunate. I’m so grateful for you and this community you have created and nurtured. Hopefully we can continue to pay it forward through the New Year. ❤️
So sorry you can’t be with your loved ones but, glad to know you are keeping safe. I’ve been alone now for 9 months Also to stay safe, but thankfully have my work as a career coach to keep me sane. I am so very grateful to you for all that you have taught us and you will go down in history for it. I long to hold my little grandaughter in my arms again more than I can say. But I read her to sleep every night on FaceTime and our love for each other is still strong. Stay safe. We need your gift.
When you pick up the pixels again. I wish you would write about how many mail in ballots are being challenged in GA. I work voter protection in Atlanta and have gotten the calls about signature being challenged for the first time in 20 years of voting absentee including the general election just two months ago or ballot being sent to the wrong address even though the photo the person saved has the correct address. So far with only 11 days of voting there are almost 4,000 challenged ballots. The Voter Protection team is fabulous and working hard including going door to door to cure ballots or prefect registrations but this is obviously voter suppression at its finest. Awareness of the nation would be good. Thanks.
Merry Christmas, feeling blessed to stumble across your letters & chats. You definitely have brought a calming, clear & truthful peace over me during this last year. Thank you for giving so if your time & enthusiasm to tell us truth. Peace to you
Gosh, that brought a tear to my eye. I'm a playwright and journalist so I usually work in isolation, but without the respite of family and friends, this holiday has been especially hard. Then, I think about so many misfortunate folks here in NYC and elsewhere - the family members lost, those without viable income, and those who face eviction. As you say, there is more light coming. We will make it through.
I am now 65 and have lived alone for a number of years. So I started this tradition of inviting fellow "holiday orphans" over for a bang-up home-cooked dinner at Thanksgiving and Christmas, which helped alleviate the heartache, and we had wonderful times. You might be surprised by how many of us "holiday orphans" there are. At my dinners, there is only one rule: do not mention why you are a holiday orphan . Because it absolutely does not matter. And we have a blast. I set a very pretty table with my French great-grandmother's ironed and starched table linens and gigantic napkins, my heirloom French china, crystal and silver, and then I lay out a feast. But we couldn't do that this year. How I look forward to 2021, a new year after this annus horribilis, with that orange-faced monstrosity gone from the White House, sanity restored, and vaccines on the way!
On this Christmas night, I feel an opportunity to reflect on how this ‘richest country in the history of the world’ can have so many citizens who are hungry, homeless, jobless, and in want of basic necessities. I feel it appropriate to question our assumptions, about free market capitalism, corporations, rugged individualism and materialism.
This holiday, so basic to our society, has little to do with the birth of the baby Jesus. May we also question the basic story of our civilization, the magic birth of an infant, said to be the child of God, who lives in the sky and offers salvation after death. But only to humans who believe in this tale.
The two of us are alone as well and feeling grateful to have such a wonderful family that we are looking forward to seeing. One granddaughter spent her Christmas Eve as part of an organ transplant team that helped six people live to see another Christmas. Another granddaughter is an RN in oncology that was able to get her COVID vaccine Wednesday. Our daughter also is an RN working in a clinic. Another daughter is a teacher who has worked overtime keeping in touch with her students and trying to bring the best educational experience possible these days. My son has devoted his time to make sure his 10-year-old daughter not only gets her schoolwork done but also has physical exercise and just good old fun. My daughter-in-law coordinates on-line meetings throughout the world working long hours. So, yes. I am proud of them and all of the people who are making our liveable and survivable right now.
Heather - I am officially "retired" after forty years on the theology faculty here at BC (though invited to return to teach my course "Spirituality and Sexuality" each fall) . I want to share how tremendously grateful I am for the extraordinary dedication and effort you have made "above and beyond" to serve the country by providing an insightful, clear-eyed historically informed perspective on our contemporary crisis period in the national life ( in part by reminding us that we have been down this road as a nation before ). Between your daily analysis and reflections and those of my friend Robert Hubbell in LA, I feel I begin each day clearer and more focused on what is being asked of us who want to serve the best version of our country possible. (about an hour of morning prayer and yoga also helps to maintain sanity and perspective).. THANK YOU ... so proud to be a colleague on faculty with you at this institution., John McDargh
Two of us here, but we drove in to DC to drop presents off for my two grandchildren with a socially distanced meeting in front of the house and in the freezing cold. I also feel blessed in that I am in the sixth week of recovery from heart bypass surgery and doing well. 2021 looks good to me.
I, too, am alone and blessed. I've celebrated my 72nd birthday alone. All of the holidays, alone. But yesterday was a lovely surprise when two Catholic University students delivered a Christmas dinner from the Basilica of the National Shrine for the Immaculate Conception. Later friends and colleagues from my Foggy Bottom West End Village delivered their own beautiful home cooked meal. I have celebratory food for days. I am appreciative of the kindness and generosity.
Unlike pandemics of the past, isolation is easily broken with ZOOM gatherings, video calls with family, and streaming services with excellent entertainment.
The downside for me has been cancer diagnosed just before the pandemic took off. Because of health system demands, my February diagnosis was supposed to have surgery in April. It got postponed to late June. It turned out that I'm too fragile and vulnerable to clots and infection. So, instead of traditional chemotherapy, the metastatic cancer is being treated with pills that have bad side effects. Now, my only outings are for treatment and physical therapy for lymphedema.
I pray that the medical professionals who treat me can stay healthy until vaccinated and aren't overwhelmed treating COVID-19 cases.
You might have figured out that I live in Washington, DC. We're not a state, despite having a population higher than Vermont, Wyoming, and a few other states. We were only given about 6500 vaccine doses to treat the 54,000 medical professionals who work in the District. But guess what? Our small supply didn't go to our medical people. It got commandeered by the government to vaccinate government officials, many of whom could have been vaccinated in their home state. Some are leaving office in a few weeks. Many of these officials and their spouses have down played the pandemic, even calling it a Hoax. Yet they and their family and friends are getting the vaccine first.
DC is really a region. Many work in one location but live in another. So Maryland and Virginia shared some of their much larger and not commandeered vaccine allotment with DC to vaccinate health care workers who may live in their states but work in DC.
DC is also under assault by Trump’s Proud Boys. They've happily donned a uniform of black shirts print with scary code, such as "FOFA." The company from whom they've purchased their yellow plaid kilts has disassociated his firm from them, discontinued the color, and offered replacement with another color or refunds to people who purchased the yellow kilts but are not Proud Boys.
So I pray for recovery and that everyone stay safe in what will be disturbing weeks as Trump is pried from office. Trump has called the Proud Boys to come to DC on January 5th and 20th.
Thank you for holding up the light. We are standing here with you, in gratitude. Rest well & enjoy🕯💙🕊
Never more aware of gratitude. Shelter. Fed. Safe. That is really all there is.
We are very blessed at my house. My siblings are safe and my sister who works at children’s hospital got her first shot on Wednesday.
I am also blessed because you have walked with us these last years (I started following you a long time ago.) I’ma better activist because of your work.
Thank you so much. May 2021 bring us some comfort and joy.
Heather, you have been a treasure to this community, and I'm sure your family feels the same, even when you can't be together. My family has been fortunate, too, so far. Your symbolism reminds us that this darkest time of year is really the beginning of new light. No matter how difficult these years have been, at least we know that sanity and stability are about to take hold, and we will be able to mend after the multiple disasters.
Thank you for your clear-sighted perspective and steady ship. It has been invaluable to us.
Thank you, Dr. Cox Richardson. You are so right...We need to count our blessings as we reach out to to help others less fortunate. I’m so grateful for you and this community you have created and nurtured. Hopefully we can continue to pay it forward through the New Year. ❤️
Merry Christmas and thank you for all that you’ve done to make sense out of this chaotic, horrific and traumatic journey we are all on.
So sorry you can’t be with your loved ones but, glad to know you are keeping safe. I’ve been alone now for 9 months Also to stay safe, but thankfully have my work as a career coach to keep me sane. I am so very grateful to you for all that you have taught us and you will go down in history for it. I long to hold my little grandaughter in my arms again more than I can say. But I read her to sleep every night on FaceTime and our love for each other is still strong. Stay safe. We need your gift.
When you pick up the pixels again. I wish you would write about how many mail in ballots are being challenged in GA. I work voter protection in Atlanta and have gotten the calls about signature being challenged for the first time in 20 years of voting absentee including the general election just two months ago or ballot being sent to the wrong address even though the photo the person saved has the correct address. So far with only 11 days of voting there are almost 4,000 challenged ballots. The Voter Protection team is fabulous and working hard including going door to door to cure ballots or prefect registrations but this is obviously voter suppression at its finest. Awareness of the nation would be good. Thanks.
Merry Christmas, feeling blessed to stumble across your letters & chats. You definitely have brought a calming, clear & truthful peace over me during this last year. Thank you for giving so if your time & enthusiasm to tell us truth. Peace to you
Gosh, that brought a tear to my eye. I'm a playwright and journalist so I usually work in isolation, but without the respite of family and friends, this holiday has been especially hard. Then, I think about so many misfortunate folks here in NYC and elsewhere - the family members lost, those without viable income, and those who face eviction. As you say, there is more light coming. We will make it through.