sure how we’d celebrate. We had a handful of acquaintances, but hadn’t made real friends yet as a couple. Because Kent had worked here for seven years before we married, he did have some male friends among his coworkers, so we thought we’d gather those friends and their wives, as well as some neighbors. Although my husband and I are Christians and celebrate Christmas, there was a Jewish couple whom we really liked and also wanted to include. We wanted to be sensitive to their beliefs, celebrate the season together, and make sure everyone felt welcome and included. So we came up with the idea for a nondenominational holiday celebration, and the Red and Green party was born! At the Red and Green party, we decided, the pressure would be off. Everyone would wear red and green clothes, we’d eat red and green foods, and exchange red and green gifts. From the beginning, everyone seemed to be on board with the idea. We had no way of knowing it, but they – and we – would stay on board. The event would become (and remains) one of our most beloved annual traditions, a rotating-house, 32-year-strong gathering of folks who have become dear, lifelong friends. Over more than three decades, we have been through the births of our children and their graduations and marriages; retirements; the births of our grandchildren. We have also sadly lost many of our parents and even one of our children. We have faced tough illnesses, and currently have one who is living mightily while battling a debilitating disease.
COMING
TOGETHER
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The Red and Green party by LAURIE GEER
BACK IN THE SUMMER OF 1984, I WAS NEWLY MARried, newly relocated, newly jobless, newly far from family and friends, and newly transplanted from Atlanta, Ga., to Raleigh, N.C. As the holidays rolled around, my husband Kent and I weren’t
116 | WALTER
all photographs courtesy Laurie Geer
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