Feliz Navidad

I believe displaced homemaker is the official term, but it usually means that you get to spend part of the holidays alone.

Because my son was with his dad and I wasn't in the rotation with my daughter and son-in-law, Christmas day was all mine. My friend, who is a third time widow, and I decided to tackle the day together. First on the list was church.

Beautiful. Simple. Peaceful. There were no ushers, no acolytes, no choir, no passed offering, no gigantic flower arrangements. Just the rector and a handful of people who wanted to share the realness of the day. Hark the Herald Angels Sing started the service. A great start to the day. He ended the service with Feliz Navidad, which made me smile BIG.

Then we decided to go to the cemetery to visit all of my friend's deceased husbands. They were buried in the same cemetery, but in different places. We straightened the wreaths she had hung on their grave stones and she told me stories about each one of them while we straightened. Strength is the word that comes to mind.

At this point, we're hungry and we tried to forage for Christmas lunch in a town where IHOP is the only place that's open. The line there was around the building and it was about 30 degrees outside. So, no. My friend, being a very clever survivor, says The hospital. It has to be open. We sacheted into the cafeteria in our Christmas finest and had a very styrofoam lunch. But it filled us up with kind-of-gummy food and lots and lots of laughs.

The next stop was the movie. Of course she, being a very savy southern woman, took her silver flask filled with bourbon into the theater and had some Christmas cheer during the movie. The movie was It's Complicated. So funny. But VERY close to home.

That was it. And the day was finally over. Spent with an incredible woman of immeasurable strength. Merry Christmas y Feliz Navidad!