Here's hoping all of you got a visit from Santa Claus like my grandkids got and are having a very Merry Christmas. (Larry Vaught Photo)
Christmas is always such a special time for families but COVID-19 protocols and fears have changed so much for so many this year. We all have to do what we think is best not only to keep ourselves as safe as possible but also our families.
This was the first time in 68 years I have not had Christmas Eve dinner with my mother. I had never known a Christmas Eve without being with my mother for dinner until this year.
I went to Melton’s Deli Thursday and my buddy Melanie Munford Harris was more than just a little bit sad because her daughter, Emmie, won’t be home. She’s a senior basketball player at Utah State and cannot come home this year. It made me want to cry just listening to Melanie talk about it.
Even Kentucky coach John Calipari, who certainly has enough stress with his team’s 1-5 start, was feeling the Christmas blues Thursday.
“Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone,” the UK coach said to media members to start his press conference. “This is the first time that my family –- my daughter reminded me –- this is the first Christmas that we, as a family, have not been together.”
Whether you like or dislike Calipari does not matter. This is a father who simply misses his kids at Christmas.
“I’m having some of the players come to the house. They don’t even know yet. I think I’m going to make them stay over,” Calipari said. “They don’t have family in town. Not for them but for my wife and I. They don’t even know it yet.
“These times, I’m just telling you, I feel for you if you’re going to be by yourself and you can’t be with family. But it is what it is. It’s just so uncertain what it is that we all have to continue to protect each other.”
Yes we do even if we are still not exactly sure what is the best way to do that.
