From Luna's diary:
It's that time of the year again, Winterfest, but this time we really struggle to feel like having much to celebrate. Sylvia in particular had always loved this day, but in these weeks all she can think about is dad.
Milo: What are you doing? Since when you can cook?
Luna: I'm trying to make a ham roast. Sylvia is cooking this every year for Winterfest, it seems so easy when she is doing it! But...
Milo: ... how many hams have you burned already?
Luna: Three, judging by the smell could be four soon.
Milo: Well, I'm not a good cook either, but I can try to help you, if you want.
We never understood exactly why dad and Sylvia were so fond of Winterfest, nor why they insisted on serving us ham roast as the main course every single year, it almost seemed like an anniversary for them. Still, we knew well how Winterfest had always been the main celebration of the year for our family: we only had good memories related to that holiday, and we wanted to try to cheer up Sylvia by trying to revive them again.
Luna: C'mon everyone, the ham roast is ready!
Sylvia seemed surprised by our initiative, probably she wasn't expecting anyone else to try to cook her famous ham roast. Nor that anyone was willing to celebrate this year, probably.
She sat hesitantly, observing carefully what Milo and I managed to cook. It was still a bit burnt, nowhere near as good as her ham roast, but it was still the best attempt we could make.
Sylvia: ... it must have taken a lot of time. There didn't have to, really.
She'd said it in the sad tone she'd had for weeks, but a half-smile full of nostalgia also appeared on her lips. Perhaps our clumsy culinary attempt had been successful after all.
Sylvia: (nostalgic) ... have we ever told you why Winterfest was so important to us?
Milo: no, actually not.
Sylvia: it was the first winter your father spent here in this city, he had just started working in that lab and we had recently met. He told me he didn't want to celebrate Winterfest, that he didn't care, so I showed up at his house with a still-steaming ham roast and almost forced him to celebrate together. And then...
Dad may not be there with us anymore, but he certainly occupies an important space in the memories of us all. Maybe this is what we should try to do from now on... keep those precious and happy memories with us, and try to go on with our lives. That's what dad would have wanted us to do, I'm sure about it.
§HermioneSims§ corner
Sul sul everyone! I just wanted to open this little parenthesis to point out that I used my MSSSC entry for Feb 2022 to write down the story of a certain furry character that everyone who read up to this point should know already... You can check it out here ;)
Aw, Sylvia. She's taking the loss of her husband hard, naturally. It's a good thing that she still has her children to be with her. Old age is both wonderful and so painful when you lose loved ones.
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