December, 25th
Frederick:
I came to Milton to spend Christmas with my parents and sister. It used to be our favorite celebration: of family, of a year gone by and the promise of a new one, full of things to do, places to see and people to meet. Both Margaret and I would be back from school and some of my best memories with my family belong to this season.
This year my feelings are mixed like never before. Dolores is slowly getting out the pregnancy's danger zone, my first child holding on, my wife's body rounder and softer every day. But the happiness of being a father collides with the pain my mother is enduring and the hard times this home is going through. The traces of this ravaging disease more evident each day, her once safe and competent hands now weak and quivering, her face chalky, her eyes dull and sad.
In spite of my initial reluctance I told the news at the table and my parents were very happy. Margaret got that look in her face that she had sniffed something but she congratulated me wholeheartedly. Later in the evening we got on Skype and talked to Dolores, who now for obvious reasons, stayed home.
I don't know if I will see my mother again; my father is still in denial but my sister Margaret is manning the rudder of this ship with her customary aplomb. When I leave back for Spain I make half hearted promises but she assures me I'm more needed in Cádiz. "Please call mama often, every other day or so", she pleads. "It will make her day; I know it will be hard for you but just five minutes before you cook dinner, will you?"
On the plane back home I regret not having asked Margaret whether she's seeing anyone. Aunt Anna told me Henry is dating a new girl and if Margaret knows, I hope she isn't crushed.
Bessy:
Christmas is the time of the year when I regret most that my son doesn't have a father, some family who would take him in a home filled with a tree and decorations and crackers and gifts. This year marks a decade since my mother died: she spent her last Christmas in a coma induced by morphine and died the following day.
I know Nicholas has had a steady lover ever since, which is wet and comes in green bottles. I don't bug him much as long as he behaves but this year I simply kick him out and have my sister Mary and her boyfriend come over. We have roast chicken and we give Phil his presents: Spider Man pajamas, an electric car and Margaret's gift, a book on how to draw, a block and crayons.
Phil is elated with Margaret's gift but I don't know if it's because he likes drawing or because it's from Margaret.