Christmas 2004

This is my favorite picture of my younger sister, taken for the Rollins College yearbook. I found it at our mom's house in October shortly after her funeral.


Ruthie 1968

She and I spent Christmas again this year with our sister Kathy and Kathy's son and three big beautiful dogs. A distinctly different Christmas celebration from last year's: our mom died in October and our sister Alicia was persona non grata this year. Tiz was missed, Alicia was not. Last year's Christmas marked the first time Mother, all my sisters, and I were together for a holiday celebration; the presence of Kathy's 20 year old son made it even more special--it was the first time he'd ever been in the same room with all of us for any occasion.

In 2003 Kathy bought a lush and beautiful Christmas tree, topped by Ruthie's 45 year old, personally hand-painted "Golf Ball Angel" (see photo).


The Golfball Angel

Elsewhere in the house there were flowers and more pine branches and wreaths. This year there were, by decree, no tree, no wreaths, no ornaments. Kathy was in a foul mood over Alicia's frequent emails about Mother's estate for most of our nearly two-week visit and (in my opinion) burdened Ruthie and the rest of us with detailed stories of Alicia's legendary obtuseness.

Ruthie continues to be very frail, but over Christmas she was able to pack on a few much-needed pounds. She looks a hell of a lot better than she did last year when she was just plain exhausted and slept a lot (I received a very sweet letter from her today thanking me for looking after her over the holidays). Her presence at Christmas was one of the highlights of the year for me. It's always good to see Ruthie.