Last Christmas, Evelyn McClendon gathered with her mother and siblings at home on Las Flores Drive in Altadena. There were prayers and a table laden with food, and “all of us in the same space, thankful for the people who were there,” said her brother Zaire Calvin, 48.
“At the time, we had no idea how much would change after that,” he added.
It would be Evelyn McClendon’s last Christmas. The 59-year-old Loyola Marymount graduate and retired school bus driver, lover of history, conspiracy theories and horror movies, who every day lived the “Christ” in Christian, would be one of the 19 people killed in the Eaton fire that would engulf their hometown 13 days later.
That final holiday get-together, her brother remembers the gift Evelyn gave her family was something you couldn’t wrap.
“She gave a lot of prayers and spiritual advice,” he said. “She was always encouraging us to lean on faith, stay grounded, and trust God even when things didn’t make sense. That’s what stays with me the most now. And whenever she left, she would always say, ‘Toodles.’ That’s one of those small things that stays with you.”
Also see: Her out-of-print Altadena history book was in high demand. A year later, it’s backThis Christmas season, like all Eaton fire survivors, his family is carrying a mix of gratitude, exhaustion and deep emotional weight, Calvin said. Thousands are scattered across the region, finding themselves chary of celebrating in a place that isn’t home. Those able to remain in town are holding on to sights and traditions of holidays past, while others are starting new initiatives, offering comfort, survivor to survivor, for whatever its worth. And it’s worth a lot.
For the extended tribe of Calvins and McClendons, grief is a constant ache. They lost a cousin, Chanel Mallet, who died on New Year’s Day 2025, then Evelyn six days later. Their uncle Kevin Thurman Gratts, passed away on May 8. He is one of the main lines of a Texas family that settled in Los Angeles in 1879.
Evelyn Cathirell with her son Zaire Calvin in Glendale on Friday, May 9, 2025. Cathirell lost her daughter, and Calvin his sister Evelyn McClendon, in the Eaton Fire. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)“Looking back, that holiday gathering now feels like a quiet goodbye we didn’t know we were having,” said Calvin, who has spent the past 11 months after the devastating fire, advocating not only for his family’s losses, but for all Altadena residents.
He is part of a myriad groups such as the Eaton Fire Survivors Network that is working to help people rebuild and battle insurance hurdles all while navigating grief and uncertainty.
“The holidays hit differently now,” Calvin said. “Some days the weight of it all is heavy. I try to stay moving and stay prayed up. Working out helps. Serving others helps. And allowing myself to feel the sadness instead of running from it helps.”
Evelyn McClendon, 59 (Courtesy)What an Altadena holiday looks like this year
What remains and what has come back helps those who never left Altadena: that Christmas Tree Lane continues brings meaning to the sadness, and the decorations along the houses at Upper Hastings Ranch bring cheer. The Star of Palawoo, bright against the Altadena night sky since 1928, has returned to its perch on Loma Alta Drive.
Opera singer Brooke Lohman-Janz is bringing friends from her Altadena Dining Club to carol at a corner of Christmas Tree Lane, belting out “Deck the Halls” to passing cars. The dining club was formed after the fires to support local restaurants who lost so many of their customers. Nearby, Norman Jr. the werewolf is rocking a Buddy the Elf outfit. The 8-feet-tall plastic statue was relocated from its usual spot on Fair Oaks Avenue to Santa Rosa Drive for the holidays.
Norman Jr. the werewolf, seen her on Christmas Tree Lane on Dec.16, 2025 in his Buddy the Elf outfit, was moved from his spot on Fair Oaks Avenue to Santa Rosa Drive in Altadena for the holidays. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)Vintage Church Pasadena members are planning to walk Altadena neighborhoods and carol, sharing the hope of Christmas, they said.
This week, longtime resident Billy Malone went on social media to recommend his neighbor Wayne, who has sold him his family’s Christmas trees over the years (swing by Wayne’s lot just north of Super King across from Good Neighbor bar on Lincoln, Malone says.)
“The holidays hit differently now. Some days the weight of it all is heavy. I try to stay moving and stay prayed up. Working out helps. Serving others helps. And allowing myself to feel the sadness instead of running from it helps.” — Zaire Calvin
Service clubs, like the Altadena Rotary, are pushing on with their usual holiday giveaways and activities. The Jaycees are looking for more Santas to distribute gifts to children on Christmas Eve, even as they replace the burned outfits their regular volunteers lost in the fire.
Artist Ana Medina-Whirledge founded “Ornaments for Altadena” with her friend Emily Viglietta. Their husbands are childhood best friends and the two families lived a block apart on Alpine Villa Drive, right up the Cobb Estate and Echo Mountain Trail.
Ornaments on trees for display in Altadena on Friday, December 12, 2025. Ornaments for Altadena is distributing ornaments to people who lost their home in the Eaton Fire. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) Ornaments for Altadena organizer Emily Viglietta puts ornaments on trees for display in Altadena on Friday, December 12, 2025. Ornaments for Altadena is distributing ornaments to people who lost their home in the Eaton Fire. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) Ornaments on trees for display in Altadena on Friday, December 12, 2025. Ornaments for Altadena is distributing ornaments to people who lost their home in the Eaton Fire. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) Ornaments for Altadena organizers Ana Medina-Whirledge, right, and Emily Viglietta in Altadena on Friday, December 12, 2025. Ornaments for Altadena is distributing ornaments to people who lost their home in the Eaton Fire. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) Ornaments on trees for display in Altadena on Friday, December 12, 2025. Ornaments for Altadena is distributing ornaments to people who lost their home in the Eaton Fire. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) Ornaments for Altadena organizer Ana Medina-Whirledge places ornaments on a tree for display in Altadena on Friday, December 12, 2025. Ornaments for Altadena is distributing ornaments to people who lost their home in the Eaton Fire. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) Ornaments on trees for display in Altadena on Friday, December 12, 2025. Ornaments for Altadena is distributing ornaments to people who lost their home in the Eaton Fire. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) Volunteers put ornaments on trees for display in Altadena on Friday, December 12, 2025. Ornaments for Altadena is distributing ornaments to people who lost their home in the Eaton Fire. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) Ornaments on trees for display in Altadena on Friday, December 12, 2025. Ornaments for Altadena is distributing ornaments to people who lost their home in the Eaton Fire. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) Show Caption1 of 9Ornaments on trees for display in Altadena on Friday, December 12, 2025. Ornaments for Altadena is distributing ornaments to people who lost their home in the Eaton Fire. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) ExpandThey have distributed ornaments and other holiday items from faith celebrations to Altadenans at free events meant to help residents this first Christmas post-fire.
“Ornaments are something that are like a scrapbook. They show where we have been and remind us of loved ones,” Medina-Whirledge said. “By collecting vintage, unique, and handmade ornaments, it feels like passing one family’s heirlooms on to restart the collections of Altadena families.”
Also see: A year on from catastrophe, cheers for the ‘good fight,’ but ‘still in the wilderness about it all’It is a campaign that’s made a difference to podcaster and community activist Shawna Dawson Beer of the online community group Beautiful Altadena. Dawson Beer wrote online about a menorah she received from “Ornaments from Altadena” that came from Israel.
“It’s not only beautiful, but deeply symbolic of community caring for community, light passed hand to hand when everything else feels uncertain.”
She has placed her collection of menorahs in the front windows facing the street from her rental, just as she would have if she were still at home on Poppyfields Drive in Altadena.
“I can’t imagine a home other than Altadena. Last year, my daughter wanted a mermaid castle and she was so excited that Santa brought it to her. Then we went to my parents’ house, where we always would go every year, to open more presents and have brunch.” — Gina Clayton-Johnson
Medina-Whirledge is happy to help her neighbors mourn objects that might feel trivial. Many of her donors parted with ornament collections that were in turn given to them by a loved one who had died, and they said letting go of those items to give them to survivors was heartening and meaningful. The recipients, meanwhile, said the gift of ornaments changed their minds about not celebrating the holidays, not decorating, not singing.
“One woman who collected ornaments the first day walked by the second day with her kid, and said that they had put up their tree with the ornaments and lights after receiving them, and she had tears in her eyes as she thanked us,” Medina-Whirledge said. “I just know that so many people were not going to celebrate the holiday this year, and this has changed their minds. I know that when I look at my tree with the ornaments on it, I feel the love of my whole community so strongly, and I hope that the more people feel that hug from their community when they look at their tree for years to come, the more people will rebuild and come back.”
Eyeing a timeline, one step forward, two steps back
The nonprofit Department of Angels surveyed more than 2,300 fire-impacted residents in Altadena, Pasadena, Malibu and Pacific Palisades for its third LA Fire Recovery Report in September. Its main findings, that survivors are struggling with interconnected troubles such as displacement, financial strain, insurance hurdles, environmental concerns, and mental health pressures, have implications for community stability and regional economic health.
Andrew King, head of community engagement and education for the nonprofit, lost his family home on Bel Air Drive in Altadena. He reports most of the homeowners on his street plan to rebuild, pointing out residents who are connected to a network of support, be it neighbors or nonprofits, are more likely to stay.
The latest survey also found that nearly three quarters of survivors, or 73%, report that their mental health has worsened since the fires, with displacement appearing to carry a particular psychological weight.
Data from the Department of Angels survey is meant to guide leaders and other recovery partners in directing resources and making decisions based on what families are saying, ensuring recovery efforts rise to the scale of their needs and determination to return home, according to founders Evan Spiegel and Miguel Santana.
No other home than Altadena
Gina Clayton-Johnson, founder and executive director of Essie Justice Group, which helps women with incarcerated loved ones, said being an Altadenan “defines so much of what I appreciate about myself and my family identity.”
Her father is Grammy-winning jazz bassist and composer John Clayton, who founded the Clayton Brothers and Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra with her uncle Jeff. Her brother is four-time Grammy-nominated jazz pianist and composer Gerald Clayton.
She and her husband and their 5 and 3-year-old lived on El Sereno, less than five minutes away from her parents on St. James Place. Their all-ages household, from the children, parents, who are in their ‘70s, and her and her husband move through the process of losing both homes their own way.
But all of them miss the diverse community of people “who really believed in coming together to make the world better in their day-to-day lives,” Clayton-Johnson said.
She is one of five Eaton and Palisades fire survivors chosen to ride the “Rising Together” float in the 137th Rose Parade, sponsored by the California Community Foundation and the Black Freedom Fund.
“I can’t imagine a home other than Altadena,” she said. “Last year, my daughter wanted a mermaid castle and she was so excited that Santa brought it to her. Then we went to my parents’ house, where we always would go every year, to open more presents and have brunch.”
Over plates of her mother’s baked French toast, her mother-in-law’s hot links and corned beef hash, an eye-catching assortment of berries from the Pasadena farmer’s market, dishes made from fresh eggs from the same market, the Claytons would indulge in a specific tradition.
For the past three years, John Clayton would gift his son Gerald 20 or 30 albums from his vinyl record collection.
“He would record himself talking about every single album, in detail. What it meant, why it was important, why he had it, what it meant for his music, and why he wants him to have it,” Clayton-Johnson said. “Then we would sit around the table and listen to his recording as he gave every single record he had chosen for that year to give to my brother on Christmas.”
The elder Clayton’s 500-piece record collection, along with many instruments, compositions, and awards burned to ash in the fire.
“When people think about what was lost and they think, oh, these are folks who have to replace things and kind of go through the logistical challenge of replacing things, that’s a very small piece of it,” Clayton-Johnson said. “It’s actually about losing those traditions and then you don’t remember until you remember. And the stories that many of our families tell about who we are as a people is through possessions, through objects that meant something.”
Her father’s records, framed pieces of knitting that was the handiwork of her great-grandmother Cassie, who grew up on a sharecropping farm in Louisiana, all that is gone
“There’s still a lot of processing around how to build new traditions, how to start again, and somehow recover the memories. But honestly, I don’t even know if I’m there yet,” she said.
Look to the helpers
The Rev. Larry Campbell, 65, pastor of Pasadena’s historic First AME Church, is one of the 22-congregation strong Black Clergy, formed after the Eaton fire to bring faith communities together in mutual aid.
His Christmas sermon this year is “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” examining the wonder of unconditional love and people’s difficulty in offering it.
“I think it’s a place where we pause and we say thank God that we’re yet alive,” Campbell said. “He’s brought us a long way, but we still got a distance to go.”
Rev. Larry Campbell reflects on holding his community together after the Eaton fire at First AME Church in Pasadena on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 as he sits before the original windows that have moved with the congregation. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)Mental health therapist Miyume McKinley cautions thinking of loss as something that’s one and done.
“It’s a journey,” she said.
Survivors find themselves trying to drum up enthusiasm for the holidays when they aren’t in the house they gathered in less than a year ago. That feeling resonates and hits differently as time goes on.
Some people report having “grief attacks,” McKinley said, adding the upcoming one-year mark is not a lot of time for fire survivors to have processed how all the change and transitions wrought by the wildfire has impacted them.
“If you’re still not home, having to consistently deal with the business side of creating another home makes the process a lot more complicated,” she said. “You’re consistently triggered, fighting battles associated with that loss while at the same time trying to grieve.”
The hope is as survivors continue to accept the horrible thing that has happened, the gaps between that and the longing and sadness grow longer and quality of life improves overall.
First holiday without her
For the extended Calvin-McClendon-Gratts clan, connecting when their central gathering place is an empty lot, is not easy. They are focused on being there for their 85-year-old matriarch Evelyn Cathirell, displaced in Glendale and counting the days until she can come home.
“We’re scattered physically, but we’re trying to stay connected spiritually,” Calvin said. “We’re focusing on checking in with one another and honoring the season in a way that makes sense for where we are now.”
That includes allowing themselves grace when holiday wishes of peace on earth and tidings of joy feel as tenuous as smoke, for feeling as much heartbreak as hope about their soul-full town.
“I don’t have peace right now,” Calvin said. “I think some type of peace will come when my house is built back and when my Altadena community is built back. Until then, it’s hard to feel settled.”
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