Holiday Wishes from PRI

There are places I’ll remember

all my life, though some have changed.

Some forever, not for better;

Some have gone and some remain.

—The Beatles, In My Life (1965)

Like many people, as the holidays approach, I tend to the nostalgic. No surprise then this song has been on my mind. It prompted me to realize that we rarely experience this season only in the present. Instead, we live in the promise of what’s to come and the memories of what has been. Our holidays are shaped by the places and people we remember—some forever, some not for better, some gone, and some still with us.

These memories bring both warmth and pain. It’s easy to become nostalgic, like Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, longing for a “Good Old-Fashioned Christmas.” But nostalgia, as Brené Brown notes, is a bittersweet longing for the past. It can comfort us, but it can also keep us from growing and living in the present. Clark discovered that belatedly. The real gift is to remember AND reflect on the past, learn from it, and move forward.

As we celebrate, let’s remember the past—the joyful and the difficult, the people we loved and their full humanity, knowing these experiences mattered and shaped who we are. By acknowledging the full picture, we can bring more joy, light, and connection to this season. May your holidays be rich with full memories, bright with new moments, and peaceful throughout.

David Rosengren, on behalf of PRI