Well, the Big Day came and went. This Christmas, some things were the same but everything was different.
I put up the Christmas tree, earlier than I ever have, back in November, to help build Christmas cheer. I bought a toy Christmas train and set it up around the base of the tree. Every morning, I would turn it on and listen to its chug, chug, and whistle as its pre-recorded Christmas tunes tinkled out while I sat alone on my couch.
There were brightly wrapped packages under the tree but they had to be delivered early to family and friends at their homes, placing them on the porches and stepping back for a socially distanced visit.
Instead of the whole family filling up my home and beds with chaos and laughter, it was just three of us, my bubble. It made for a much quieter home, which wasn’t such a bad thing, but it sure was different.
I still prepared a table full of food for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. A turkey with stuffing was roasted and we said our thanks, hands held together in a much smaller circle this year.
Christmas morning we woke early with phones signaling a FaceTime call and several times that day we were on the phone opening stockings and gifts together. No face to face but a good second best.
I bought three small bottles of champagne for our three households and together on FaceTime we raised our glasses and made a toast to our love and families, those present and absent.
My eldest daughter made a very moving and heartfelt video for us which was delivered via social media. We listened in the quiet of my living room by the Christmas tree, our fireplace crackling in the background. Her love for us and pain at not being able to be together was so evident. We laughed and we cried, again, not in person, but as a good second substitute.
Instead of noisy board games with much teasing and laughter, there was a big jigsaw puzzle set up at one end of the dining room table, and with a full, quiet afternoon ahead of us, much of it got completed.
In spite of all the restrictions put on us by the pandemic, we managed to have a beautiful and meaningful Christmas. We still had the basic elements, the tree, the stockings and gifts, the feast and good food. Much of it was the same, but the pandemic made it all different. What was important and never-changing was the love we felt for each other. We just found new ways to share it.