“ease the strange hollowness we feel” / “So in closing I send you our love”

The Poem

Christmas Night - Conrad Hilberry

Let midnight gather up the wind
and the cry of tires on bitter snow.
Let midnight call the cold dogs home,
sleet in their fur—last one can blow

the streetlights out. If children sleep
after the day’s unfoldings, the wheel
of gifts and griefs, may their breathing
ease the strange hollowness we feel.

Let midnight draw whoever’s left
to the grate where a burnt-out log unrolls
low mutterings of smoke until
a small fire wakes in its crib of coals.

The Christmas Letter - John N. Morris

Wherever you are when you receive this letter
I write to say we are still ourselves
In the same place
And hope you are the same.
The dead have died as you know
And will never get better,
And the children are boys and girls
Of their several ages and names.
So in closing I send you our love
And hope to hear from you soon.
There is never a time
Like the present. It lasts forever
Wherever you are. As ever I remain.

The Beverage
Eggnog (optional: with brandy)

Lots of options for Christmas. I picked two poems. I couldn’t decide. But it’s Christmas, so I just decided to go with both. It is Christmas night right now. I’m up late in the quiet house, alone, finishing a gift. And drinking a whiskey ginger. But that isn’t the beverage today.

The beverage today is that much maligned holiday choice: eggnog. Yes, I get that it’s disgusting. I know. I love it. It’s creamy and sweet, good warm or cold, on its own or with brandy. Yes, brandy. I am from Wisconsin, after all.

Eggnog tastes like Christmas. I dare you to find a drink that knows its place as well as eggnog. It doesn’t aspire to Thanksgiving or New Year’s Eve. It holds its Christmas ground. Cider is good for months, champagne is almost all-purpose, Irish coffee is never bad. Eggnog. Eggnog is for Christmas. Get the good stuff. Glass bottle, full-fat.

Merry Christmas. Happy Chanukah. I hope you had a lovely Festivus. Enjoy Kwanzaa. I love you, generally and personally.