Christmas came to pass, over and over again this year.

Jim woke up and did his usual routine of going downstairs to use the exercise bike and use the weights while I turned on the coffee and prepped our morning pills and vitamins.

Once he was settled, I asked him if he wanted to open gifts and he paused as if trying to understand what I was talking about. He said, let’s have coffee first. Then as he sipped from his mug, he began to question the items under the tree.

I took a video of him opening gifts from his family. The stops and starts, his need for help to unwrap the gifts, and his repeated comments within a short time span brought his children to tears.

He spent the morning pulling stuff out and re-examining his gifts, repeating the same comments about each item, put them back and pulled them out again. All the while, forgetting it was Christmas Day.

I think, I’ll bypass New Year’s Eve all together. He looks very confused whenever I mention cooking something special for it. He’ll be more comfortable watching his usual Blue Bloods reruns than trying to figure out what year it is anyway.