Those 'First Christmases After'

While I cannot say I look forward to Christmas, I celebrate it, even if less enthusiastically as time passes. Perhaps it’s the “bah-humbug factor” that comes with fading eyesight and the other vicissitudes of what is, however — at least for now — still preferable to the alternative.

For me, two Christmases contributed immeasurably to my bah-humbug factor, each vying for “worst” my two “First Christmases After.”

The first worst Christmas of my life was my twenty-sixth. I had just returned from Indochina, where I served as an Air Force officer. A few months before the end of my tour, orders for...