Well, here we are at Christmas, 2020. Like everything else in this godforsaken year, it trends toward joyless. My wife and I are spending it alone as our children are essentially trapped in the Pacific Northwest by current circumstances. We will have a small dinner at the family homestead, but attendance is limited. Those of us who work in healthcare, (and have not, like me, recovered from Covid) have chosen not to attend given my father’s advanced age. All agree that this is prudent.

We had hoped for a white Christmas given the roughly 13 inches of snow that fell last week. My little Victorian hamlet looked like the background of a Norman Rockwell Christmas painting. But it’s 2020. Yesterday temperatures warmed into the 50s, and we had roughly 3 inches of rain. The high winds that accompanied this trough were sufficient to knock down a strategically placed tree, wiping out power for our little village about 8 PM. Power did eventually return overnight. I awakened this morning to green lawns, and with temperatures plummeting, freezing rain. Down in the Susquehanna River Valley, given the rain and the snowmelt, they’re making preparations for the river to crest above flood stage in a day or so.

Merry Christmas.

Still, I don’t want my seasonal affective disorder to completely overwhelm this Christmas posting. My family has much for which to be grateful. Despite several of us working in healthcare, my case of Covid 19 made me the only one affected. Despite misery of the lockdowns, we remain gainfully employed which cannot be said for many of our friends. My father, at 94 years old, still fully functional. I love having a beer with him at the end of the day.

For my Christmas gift to you, I offer a pleasant discovery I made this year. From Branson Missouri, I give you The Petersons, a wonderful bluegrass band that I found in my YouTube lineup. They are a very traditional family with a wonderful back story well worth reading. They are also, as a clan I think, an almost freakishly musical.

And here in the east… try to ignore the weather.

So Merry Christmas to one and all. Indulge yourself in the joy of friends and family. Stay safe. Eat a little, drink a little more.

As always, I would be honored to share this post.

Header Image: Christmas Bench (Fujifilm XE3, XF 18-55 f2.8-4)