This Christmas was about to become another non-event if not for a friend’s house party to celebrate the yuletide and heading down to my friends’ pub to get infected with the season’s cheer. I was prepared for a silent night, and much prefer it nowadays actually, just staying home and chilling with a movie or a good read over wine, but decided to stop being conquered by melancholy and pushed myself out of the house. My current battle with a bad neck notwithstanding.
So in the company of new friends made and old friends’ gaiety, this Christmas eve had spice although I was too drunk to remember much the next day. This photo is of friends who I’ve known for a long time (except the guy next to me at the back who’s someone’s friend and joined in the shot), some for more than a decade. Not everyone in the group is in the photo, I wish they are, but we’ve all been through some pretty wild times and really tough times… abuses, incarcerations, illnesses, fights, financial woes, death of love ones, etc. They are people I feel comfortable with anytime instantly without trying.
So when Cecilia called out for a photo to be taken of old friends, I felt the touch of Christmas. I may not see them as much, we may not have gatherings and outings like we used to years ago, but the joy and comfort of seeing them struck a chord of kinship that made getting older worth the while.
Enduring friendship is the great gift of many, many Christmas!
