Quite a Trick

The Christmas tree is up and trimmed. 

It's our tradition to slug all the holiday containers down from the attic, order 

Chinese food, and decorate the tree and house in one evening

with It's a Wonderful Life playing in the background.

My family's favorite part of this might be the egg rolls.

But this year, I sensed an undertone that surprised me. 

Turns out I wasn't the only one to figure out that this is our last holiday like all those 

that came before. I knew it, of course—our Oldest is on the brink of buying a home of 

his own, our Second is getting married in the spring, and our Youngest is off to college 

next fall. Yes, for sure, next Christmas will be very different. 

And it seemed that each of us paused for just a moment and nodded to that fact.

One of the tricks of parenting adults and almost-adults, I think, must be 

to spend more time anticipating what's to come than clinging to what's passed by. 

Not an easy trick, my friends, especially with a bellyful of shrimp lo mein.