The Little Christmas Tree

This year things are different …

and so is my Christmas tree — it’s little.  And its sparsely decorated.  It’s the end of 2020 (aka the year of misery) and I just didn’t feel like doing anything decorative that required too much effort.  Things are different for everyone and here are some of the things that are specifically different for me:

1. I’m single.  After 16 years in a relationship, I split with my partner of 16 years in 2019. Yes, it’s been well over a year, but I’m still grieving the loss — see the next item.
2. My ex-partner of 16 years died suddenly in July.  There was no reconciliation or coming to terms after the breakup (see item #1).  He just dropped dead.  Now I’m grieving his death, too.  And it’s been almost six months now.
3. I moved — temporarily living in a small cottage in a rural area until COVID is over.
4. I’m lonely.  See item #3 for the reason … and COVID, of course.
5. My mother, sister and stepdad all got COVID-19 in November.  My 84-year-old mother was hospitilized for over two weeks, but survived.  She’s still frail and weak — and she also fell and broke her arm.  My stepdad and sister only had cold-like symptoms and recovered without hospitilization.  Yeah, happy Thanksgiving.

Things I’m Thankful For

1. I have my health.  And I haven’t contracted COVID, despite having to take my mother to the emergency room twice in one weekend.
2. I’m still employed and have income.
3. I’m living comfortably.
4. I have two beautiful Golden Retrievers to keep me company. Luckily, they wound up with me after the breakup.
5. I have friends in remote places to zoom call and they are all very supportive.  I try not to wear them out with my whining.
6. Amazon Prime, C.O. Bigelow, Bath & Body Works, The Body Shop, The US Postal Service, and Fed Ex.
7. Viasat for remote internet connectivity that works.  Although, I’m anxiously awaiting availability of Starlink.
8. My little Christmas tree.

By the way, my little Christmas tree is a Norfolk pine from Lowe’s (it was $19.99), the string of 100 warm LED lights is from Dollar General ($7), and the laser cut wood ornaments are from Walmart ($4).  The ceramic cache pot is Italian — found it years ago on clearance in Denver, Colorado.  The blue ceramic garden seat was found at Sam’s Club years ago.