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Dear Corinthia,
Merry Christmas! Do you observe Christmas up there among the stars? Well, we
don’t, for the most part. I studied it in school once, learning the
traditions that people used to maintain. They would celebrate their family,
and promote world peace. A lot of the things they did sound kind of
arbitrary and silly to me, like cutting down trees, or exchanging gifts, but
the message of togetherness sounds nice. I don’t know exactly why religion
declined. I mean, I know why; because none of it is real, but I don’t know
precisely how it happened. We’re just lacking in perspective, I guess, since
we were born on this side of it. Anyway, we still say
Merry Christmas to each other on this day, but that’s really it.
People don’t really know what it means, it’s just become second nature. You
can’t live somewhere far from your family, and then come home for a few days
before going back. Travel just isn’t the same for us as it was in the past.
Back then, if you built a life for yourself in another region, this would be
an excuse to go back to visit where you came from. But now, separating
yourself from your family is all but irreversible. There are those who work
in some of the more dangerous corners of the planet, and send money home,
but they don’t get vacation time. Only when their job ends—be it from losing
it, or having made enough to quit—will they try to return to their families,
but there’s no guarantee they’ll succeed. I was just wondering if people on
Vacuus even acknowledge that this time of the year used to be a thing, or if
you’ve even heard of it in the first place. Or...do you go all out with
thick themed sweaters, hanging stockings, and seasonal hot drinks? Has there
been some resurgence in popularity thanks to someone who happened to be on
the ship who really wanted to bring back old traditions? Ha, is any of this
making any sense to you, or did you have to search your database? Even
though we don’t participate in the same sort of things that our ancestors
used to when they believed in superstitions, I think some of the things they
did were decent, and I regret that they’ve gone away. They thought they had
it bad when their children moved out of the house, and decided to live on
the other side of the country, or even in another country. They had
no idea how good they had it, always being just an aircraft ride away from
each other. I’m not sure that I understand whether there are other people on
your mission who left loved ones behind, or if all of their interplanetary
communication is strictly professional. Even if there are others, that’s
still a very low number of people in this boat. No one else in the solar
system has to deal with the kind of distance that we do. All I’m trying to
say is, even though we never met, I miss you.
Happy holidays (they used to say this instead when members of competing
religions didn’t want to offend each other),
Condor
PS: I’ve not yet asked dad about connecting you two to each other. By the
time this message reaches you, however, he and I will have talked about it.
I promise.
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