As our kids get older and start independent lives and families, they don’t always make it home for Christmas. It happens in the best of families. 😉 But this year feels a little (okay, maybe a lot) different because of restrictions not of our own making that may keep us from gathering all our loved ones around us. Plans have had to be changed. Flights have had to be cancelled. Vacation time has had to be rescheduled. 15-20 lb. turkeys will have us eating frozen leftovers till well into next year since the small ones many of us needed this year were hard to come by. Richard and I sent Christmas cards for the first time in years because of the great need in our hearts to connect with those we love. This is a unique Christmas, unlike anything any of us has ever experienced. And we may have to look a little harder for the inspiration and joy of the season.
How have you been keeping the spirit of Christmas alive and well in this year which will forever be synonymous with COVID? I know a lot of people dragged out their artificial trees and decorations before Thanksgiving to invite Christmas cheer into their homes a little earlier than usual. Cities, neighborhoods, and individuals have expanded their light shows in a bond of community. Six Flags Magic Mountain has had all their rollercoasters lit up in a spectacular drive-through light extravaganza that our granddaughter and her parents enjoyed. Traditions that have been up close, personal, and very crowded in the past, like Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, either went virtual or were cancelled this year. Even the Rose Bowl moved to…somewhere that’s not the Rose Bowl. It doesn’t even matter where, it’s just bizarre. Assumptions are being challenged, perceptions are being reframed, paradigms are being shifted, and nothing can be taken for granted.
So we hold on to what we can to keep traditions intact. Richard and I are watching classic Christmas movies like we always do, making candy and fruit breads, driving around to see the lights, playing Christmas music, ordering and wrapping Christmas presents. We’re doing our family gift exchange through Amazon this year, letting them deliver the gifts. We are planning a huge extended family party in a social media chat room on Christmas Eve. I’m praying that Zoom and the other internet group platforms will have enough bandwidth for all those who I’m sure will be doing the same thing at some point during the holidays. Creativity, flexibility, and adaptability are the buzz words this year. And I think we could add positivity as a necessity in 2020 and going forward into 2021.
If you got your packages off early this year, kudos. If you didn’t, they may be delayed because Santa is delivering the life-saving vaccine we have been waiting and praying for. Because we aren’t able to gather in many parts of California this year (including our little corner of the state), many of us are shipping Christmas to our loved ones. The elves at Amazon, UPS, FedEx, and the Post Office are particularly busy right about now and pulling more all-nighters than just the usual night shift on Christmas Eve. Even our Fala and Watson are in the spirit, “welcoming” our never-ending deliveries with friendly barking. Cleo, as is his style, has remained aloof from it all.
Fala 
Watson 
Cleo
It’s a tough year by any reckoning. But we are resilient folks, and we can get through this as we have overcome other tough times, as long as we keep ourselves and those we interact with safe. Being apart from our loved ones is the hardest part for me. But, though the circumstances are vastly different, there have been other difficult Christmases from time to time that have caused unavoidable Christmas separations. Being apart has been a common theme for Christmas songs throughout the years. Classic holiday tunes that may have held special significance to individuals and families for many different reasons now have an almost universal poignancy, as in “I’ll be Home for Christmas—if only in my dreams,” and the original version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” sung by Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis:
Someday soon we all will be together
If the fates allow.
Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
Or maybe The Carpenters’ song, “Merry Christmas, Darling” resonates with you:
Singing at the family “talent show” a few years ago
I’ve just one wish
On this Christmas Eve,
I wish I were with you.
Can you think of other Christmas songs that embrace the separation and the hope of being together again? I’d love to talk about them with you in the comments below.
I am praying that next year we will all be here to gather once again for the holidays. The well-loved artist Norman Rockwell depicted such a reunion in Christmas Homecoming, the cover he painted for Saturday Evening Post in 1948. Members of his family, good friends, and even fellow artist Grandma Moses are represented in the scene, welcoming a loved one home after wartime separation. You can see the painting and read the story here.
I have hope and faith that we will do more than “muddle through somehow”; that we will find and share the joy of Christmas and the unsurpassed love Jesus brought into the world through His birth, death, and resurrection. Our joy has never been dependent on what is happening here on the planet. It comes as inspiration from God. But we can and must share that joy. I urge you to connect with as many people as you can by phone, online, or snail mail and make this Christmas memorable not because of the spread of Covid but because of the spread of kindness, love, joy, and the good will of Christ to all. Someone out there needs you to help make their Christmas merry—from at least 6 feet away. Stay safe and know that I care about you and yours.
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
Luke 2:14 KJV
