My Holiday E-mail

Greetings to You and Your Loved Ones:

Just a note to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Season’s Greetings, Happy New Year, Winter Solstice    ….and to let you know that even though we did not send out cards this year, Leon and I are alive and well (enough). We Thank you for your Cards and Holiday Wishes.

AGE catching up to me, Leon’s busy WORK schedule, and the general STATE of AFFAIRS, has made us both less inclined to engage in the HOLIDAY RITUALS…so we are having a very minimalist Christmas this year.  Even many of those traditional cookies and foods are missing from our house! (we are enjoying other people’s cookies however) We’ve made donations to the homeless shelter, LGBTQ non-profits and other charitable causes in lieu of gifts. Much less stressful and more in keeping with the Spirit of the Season.

The often mindless frenzy of the season as promoted by commercialism has always struck me as rather profane and a source of existential angst. I often find even the expectations based on religious or cultural tradition to be sometimes a source of stress and guilt rather than a source of joy and peace.

But I’ve always been a outlier, a reluctant rebel, a contrarian, a sceptic, proudly gay and mostly “woke.” And perhaps in my OLD AGE I am beginning to own those parts of me along with the aches and pains. 

Don’t get me wrong, I am, we are, Leon and I, also so GRATEFUL for all that we have: we are not lacking any necessities (there's at least one too many vehicles in the driveway), we have great FRIENDS and RELATIVES (you among them), wonderful MEMORIES (Leon has more memories than I do!) and just our being together, and, here in New Mexico lots of SUNNY DAYS (although we had a freak snow before Thanksgiving - 12 inches - see photo above) .

In all of that we find our JOY and PEACE.

Wishing JOY and PEACE to You, too.

While this missive is mostly “FRANK” 

“LEON” sends his LOVE as well.

Frank and Leon

P.S. I do not have email addresses for every family member or friend. Please pass on our Greetings to your loved ones and friends.