Tue, 16:46: Five Christmases after my mom’s passing, my longstanding, deep nostalgia for Christmas music retains a bittersweetness it never used to have. This nostalgia was always tied to my memory of a shared experience with her: recording tracks off her Burl Ives and other vinyl Christmas records, etc. Now I can’t even imagine an ongoing shared nostalgia with her, because she is gone. She lives on only in these kinds of memories.
I still love Christmas music as much as I ever have. But now, it always has this slight undertone of wistful melancholy to it. I find myself wondering every year if that part of it will ever go away.
