Jonna Carter: The Ghost of Christmas Past

Nobody has ever adored Christmas more than I — as a child, as a young adult, and as a mother. When I had children, I poured boundless energy into creating and re-creating a spectacular Christmas filled with past traditions along with others I initiated. There was no time of year so magical, and I would renew the magic annually for and with my children. But magic doesn’t spring eternal. Divorce demands a reckoning with all holidays, and none more so than Christmas.

Even before all the hopes for some degree of renegotiated normalcy have been dashed — before the presents have been bought, the tree selected, the menu planned — cards begin arriving with pictures of picture-perfect intact families. The seemingly enchanted families captured in time and timelessness are often accompanied by missives of their many accomplishments and the innumerable joys family life has brought to them over the course of the year. As to the senders, I, too, was once among their ranks.