Dear Jane,
I went to a tea held in honor of your birthday yesterday.
I wore the same gown as I did last year, which you would appreciate. You would also probably identify with the sensation I had after last year’s tea, when I realized that I had cut the gown’s hem too short and therefore had worn in public the 1790’s equivalent of what my generation would have called high waters (this is a term that came into use in the 1850’s, apparently, but it feels biblical, so I hope you will have a sense of what I mean).
I was walking to the library with my two youngest kids on a brisk evening in December when one of them noticed a bus nearby that said “Happy Holidays” below the route number on the destination indicator. “Why not Merry Christmas?” one kid wanted to know.
I described as many of the holidays I could think of that happen at this time of year, and realized we needed a little education around the topic. So while we were at the library I picked up a couple of books on Hanukkah to get us started.
My first post here was in December, back in 2017. It’s become a habit to come back to this space each Christmas season to reflect on how we’re observing the traditions of this time of year.
