When the kids were small, presents overwhelmed the space under the tree. The numbers dwindled as, one by one, they grew older and moved away. For another decade, the trees Caitlin and I decorated harboured only a few.
It’s all over now. This year, I didn’t even have a tree.
Alan Kemister is the pen name of a retired scientist experimenting with more fictitious writing. He’s currently working on a climate change novel. Get the gory details at alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com.
Alan, this is the saddest synopsis about Christmas that I can imagine. The dwindling down. What a heartbreak, and very well captured.
May be sad, but I think it’s a reality for a lot of older parents in our modern world where young people wander far away from home.