Illustration Amy Aves Challenger

Dear Christmas, thank you for every mother and child who don’t belong.

Christmas, how will I ever come to grips with your expectations, with my guilt, my sense of wonder, inadequacy and longing all nestled together like misfit emotions under a tree, during a pandemic? How will I manage the memories, dangling about an evergreen we chopped down and decorated partly with love and sometimes perfection, mostly with hope for something better…