Right around this time, we would normally be in a car en route to Aunt Bet’s for Christmas Eve dinner, which is a blend of interesting foods and the “ol’ washin’ with the money” routine: It’s a tradition that goes way back in our family in which each member goes up to the sink and washes their face with some dollars. I know it sounds weird, and when you see it, it is in fact weird. But the premise was that you would start the new year with prosperity. Afterwards, our grandfather—now Aunt Mary Ann—used to give each person one of the dollars, and you use the dollar when you need to make an important purchase like a house or a car.
Afterwards, David and I would usually go to the church in Orange—the one that Mom used to like to go because they do a service that ends with the people playing these bells. It is really moving and an awesome thing that I wish I had done more often with my mom. She was always moved by the littlest things.
This year will be much of the same. However, it will be one, yet again, with one less member in our family. This thing has really hit us all extremely hard in very different ways. Only two years ago, I readjusted my entire way of doing Christmas, which was my mother’s favorite holiday. The house was a virtual winter wonderland, and we would have so many people come over and get festive. In 2009, David and I decided to do it a little different. We weren’t ready to get all festive, so we decided that we would take a trip together in honor of our mom and just spend the week together doing whatever we wanted.
Last year’s trip was amazing. We went to Tahoe—we were pummeled by snow. I needed to get chains for the rental car to get around. It was my favorite trip of the year and something I would secretly plan for for months in advance.
I would start making the playlist for the trip right around my birthday in September and would unveil it when we got into the rental car.
This trip will be one of the things I will miss most. Like the money washing, I thought this was going to be a tradition that David and I would take with us until we were old and gray.
