Christmas week is finally here, and we are days away from good times with family and friends.
Food and drinks will be flowing, gifts will be presented and opened, life will slow done, at least on Christmas Day.
Little children everywhere will have toys upon toys to play with happiness and joy.
Organizations like the Greater Pittston Santa Squad gave aid to over 1,500 less advantaged children a chance to rejoice on Christmas morning. It’s unimaginable there would be that many children not having the chance to be like all other children on Christmas Day.
Christmas cookies galore, cannoli, pumpkin, poppy seed, and nut rolls will be on every dessert table throughout Greater Pittston.
Many people will have extended vacations and if you are really lucky, you may have as much as two weeks off for the holiday.
Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa will all be celebrated within 24 hours of each other; the first time in many years.
Happy times ahead as family members from out of town make their way back to the area to spend the holiday with family and friends.
Even though we celebrate Jesus’ birthday or the arrival of Santa Claus, there will be people in Greater Pittston and beyond that won’t be celebrating. Relatives may not be coming home to celebrate the holiday, but instead come home to celebrate a loved one that passed away during the Christmas season.
I’m guilty as charged with it comes to all of it, the celebration, the family meals, the gift exchanging and the idea that on Christmas Day, there is peace in the world.
Only in the last few years I’ve been thinking about those that lost loved ones over the holiday season. I’ve always felt compassion in my heart for those in mourning.
It’s tough enough to lose a family member or friend during the course of the year, but to lose someone during the holidays always felt worse to me.
Last week, I lost one of my first cousins on my mom’s side. I have seven first cousins on her side of the family and only one on my dad’s side.
With my cousin Gloria Green passing away, she now joins her brother Robert Pantucci and sister Regina Stevenson among the heavens.
If you can indulge me for a few minutes, I’d like to tell you about Gloria.
She married Harold Green, both of West Pittston, in 1962 and I, at five years old, was chosen as the ring bearer. It was a very stressful job, as I recall, because I had to walk up the aisle with the rings on a somewhat curved pillow hoping I would not drop them.
My father owned a film camera and with that was a battery of floodlights when turned on looked like 10 cars shining their headlights on you.
I also remember squinting badly because I couldn’t see with those blinding lights.
I always felt honored to have that role, even at an early age.
Gloria led a simple life without great fanfare. She and Harold, the salt of the Earth kind of people, were never flashy people. Both hard-working, they loved their son and grandchildren, and Gloria absolutely loved Christmas.
Stricken with MS in her 20s, she had a lot of tough times, especially early on when the disease would paralyze her on entire one side of her body. That happened on a few occasions, but yet, I never heard her complain.
She was not a quitter and she never gave up. That was evident after having her first bout of paralysis. I went to visit her during the holiday season and she wasn’t on her back in a chair or lying down on the couch, no, she was up on her feet, leaning on a crutch rolling out her famous nut rolls.
I walked away amazed that day and I soon realized she was my hero.
Gloria loved to laugh and loved to tell a story laughing through it. She loved the Christmas season making homemade Christmas ornaments, wreaths and wall hangings. She gave me one of her masterpieces two Christmases ago. I hang that with pride.
In the last few years, her disease caught up to her and it’s been nothing but hospitals and rehab centers. She hated being in the hospital and in rehab and couldn’t wait to get home. She loved her home.
When she passed away, she went straight to Heaven. She earned her wings and then some. Her over 50-year battle with MS was over and for as much as you’d think the disease bested her, I’d rather think she conquered it and pushed it way for all those years.
She will be sorely missed as others that lost their life during this holiday season such as Thomas Pellegrini, Carl Stahley, Jr., Dr. Joseph Shaver, Jimmy Artim, Jr., Bonnie Bidwell, Gene Manganello, Marion Holcomb, Shirley Bone, Martha Broda, Rose Marie Pesotine, Marie Solano, Debbie Andruscavage, Jennifer Larkin, Pat Weidlich, and many more.
I will honor Gloria and celebrate Christmas in her honor as she would. I will remember her fondly and know she’s without pain. Knowing she is with her siblings and parents is comforting.
Oh what I would give to have one more slice of her nut roll.
Quote of the Week
“It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.” — W.T. Ellis.
Thought of the Week
“Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart… filled it, too, with melody that would last forever.” — Bess Streeter Aldrich
Bumper Sticker
“Christmas is the day that holds all time together.” — Alexander Smith
