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Christmas 2024 at the Old Folks Home is a Wrap

A glimpse of a mature celebration

Kerry Kramer
Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age
4 min readJan 10, 2025

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Photo by Laura Beth Snipes on Unsplash

Joy to the world — it’s over!

Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas, but it’s draining. During the festivities, my mind wanders back to our own old folks home where it’s just me, my husband, and two dogs.

Forget sugar plums — what dances in my head are visions of peace and sounds of silence.

When the kids were little I would mourn the end of the Christmas Season, now I mourn the beginning. Those damn holiday songs start the day after Halloween. By Christmas, I am over it.

The commercials of a blindfolded wife escorted to her snowy driveway on Christmas morning to see her husband, who is probably sleeping with his secretary and pilfering money from his company, gifting her a brand-new Lexus makes me nauseous.

I will never wear the color red again — until next year. Red plaid pants, red sequined skirt, red sweater dress, red cable knit sweater, red tafeta blouse — my Christmas wardrobe leaves me seeing RED!

Not to mention the chaos of six grandkids ages 18–6 running around the house yelling, “Give it back…it’s mine” after the Secret Santa gift exchange. That idea didn’t go over as well as planned.

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Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age
Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

Published in Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

“The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.” (Frank Lloyd Wright) Non-fiction pieces, personal essays and occasional poems that explore how we feel about how we age and offer tips for getting the most out of life.

Kerry Kramer
Kerry Kramer

Written by Kerry Kramer

I am every woman. I write about the irony of life, friendship, authenticity, aging, and life experiences with humor and honesty. My Motto: Be Your Own Anchor!

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