It’s coming on Christmas,
They’re cutting down trees,
They’re putting up reindeer and
Singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on...
Joni Mitchell
December, 2022
Dear Friends and Family,
I’m sad to say that this will be a difficult Christmas season for my family and me, since we had to say goodbye to Mark in August. I’m so grateful for all the love and support I’ve received from family and friends during this time.
Mark loved the image in Joni’s song about skating down the river, and even went to the trouble of procuring a pair of ice skates many years ago when we still lived in Indiana. In fact, he loved many things about Christmas. He enjoyed the holiday lights and always wanted a lighted bell in the window right where he could see it from his regular spot at the dining room table, so during her Thanksgiving visit Caitlin and I hung the bell in his honor, put up the lights on the porch and set up the deer and doe in the front yard. Mark liked sparkle at Christmastime. He wanted the holiday card with bright colors and shine. He bought the foil and glitter gift wrap early, and always wanted the gifts placed as soon as possible under the big Noble fir he selected and we decorated together. His favorite ornaments were the ones with the many-faceted centers; he would arrange them carefully on the branches of the tree so that they caught the reflection from nearby lights. He enjoyed my Christmas letters and always checked them for typos, so you might spot more than usual this year.
Mark loved poinsettias and got three big ones each year which, with his green thumb, he managed to nurture through many months after the holidays, sometimes all the way to the summer. He loved to sing the Christmas carols, particularly “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “O Holy Night,” and “Silent Night.”
This year I have a much smaller tree but I make sure the lights are on each evening. The shiny foil packages in the picture are from my sister Nell, who wanted to ensure there were presents under my tree. The poinsettias in the house are fewer and smaller but each time I see one I think of Mark and how he enjoyed their deep, brilliant red. His spirit remains with me in so many ways. When I picked up his acoustic guitar a few weeks ago I felt a surge of energy from it; he so loved riffing on that guitar.
I participated in a choir again this winter, finding comfort surrounded by people singing music of the season in harmony. One of our songs was “A December Prayer” by Idina Menzel:
Open your heart and look around
Listen, listen
Hear the song within the silence,
See the beauty when there’s nothing there,
Sing a song within the silence
That hope and love are ev’rywhere.
And when the quiet night is falling
Watch an angel dancing in the air
To the song, the song within the silence,
A December prayer...
In September, shortly after I’d started singing in the choir, I had a dream about Mark. In the dream he and I were dancing together, and as we danced our feet left the ground. We were dancing in the air. And so with these memories, and your own, I hope Mark’s spirit remains somehow with us always.
Here he is in happier times a few years ago, good-naturedly accepting the fact that when it comes to Scrabble, I always win the draw even when we both end up with our own initials.
Many good things happened in 2022 as well, and I don’t want to lose sight of that. Shannon and I visited Caitlin and Justin in Seattle a couple of times, feasted on some excellent oysters at the Hama Hama Oyster farm, met Justin’s delightful parents and other family members. We listened to Justin perform his prize-winning song at a maritime music festival. In September Caitlin and Justin bought a house together and are settling in beautifully there with Charles the Cat and Chester the Dog, who seem to be coexisting better and better every day.
Zuni the Cat is abiding as she always does, occasionally trotting up the spiral staircase to a perplexingly empty room, or taking an undisturbed nap in a shaft of sunlight on the Big Chair.
We wish each of you a merry Christmas, filled with peace and hope for a better New Year.
Love,
Lynn and Zuni
