A Christmas Memory

I've spent more time again over the last few days trying to box up this over-stuffed kitchen.  This morning, I was clearing an upper cupboard where I've housed thermos bottles and such - rarely used, but when needed are very nice to have.  In the far back corner of the very top shelf, I found something I'd long forgotten about and it brought back so many memories.  Memories that are good and yet add to the melancholy I always experience at this time of year. This is what I found:

Christmas Cup

 When I first came to this dry land, I met Jane.  Jane was the step-mother of my then fiance'.  His dad had died by just a couple years before, and she was a widow and still single.  The fiance' and I remained together for about three years after I moved here, never getting married, and going our separate ways - shortly before Christmas 1975.  Jane and I had become, and remained, quite close over the years.  We spent a lot of time together and holidays were very special. Especially for me since I had no family here of my own. The ex-fiance and I remained friends too...eventually. 

One of our Christmas traditions was to decorate the tree, which included all those OLD, now VERY OLD and dangerous, type of string bulbs - the real ones that could get hot and burn your tree down and your house along with it!  We had such fun decorating the always heavily flocked, and very tall tree listening to Christmas music in the background and sipping wine or a hot toddy.  (That was my BC days.)  One year she bought this coffee mug for me, and I guess somewhere along the line the handle broke, but all the pieces are there; I suppose I planned to fix it.  The mug so depicted what we went through with those lights.

I miss those times, they were fun but more than just missing the time, I miss the relationship with her and the family.  Over the years, we've followed our own separate paths and don't speak with each other often and see each other far less.  I think the last time we saw each other has been about 12 years ago.  She's moved out of the immediate area, so getting together would require a drive of several hours.

She has a birthday coming up next week; I'll have to find her number and give her a call.