Well, December 25 has come and gone, and I can honestly say that this year was definitely different.
Sure, we still exchanged gifts at home and ate way too much, but something was missing.
Actually, a lot was missing.
Family.
My wife and I and our kids usually bounce around at Christmas celebrating with our extended families that live here in Michigan. We have traditions and we have grown to embrace these. It just seemed odd that we were home on Christmas Eve. Just the five of us. Not that there is anything wrong with that, because there surely isn’t, but we had never done it that way before.
Instead of wallowing in our plight, we found the silver lining and binge-watched Christmas movies, played board games, napped, made cookies, and just enjoyed everyone’s company.
And you know what? We loved it. Every second of it.
Our youngest realized the truth about Santa this year – that he is part of the Christmas spirit, but that a bulky man doesn’t actually come to every house Christmas Eve to deliver presents – and that was a but emotional as she was our last one to still believe. She took it well, and even made sure to confirm that the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy fall into the same category.
Why do kids have to grow up?
The Christmas season is always a time I think most of us look forward to celebrating. In our family, the religious meaning is something we don’t take lightly, and we love how our families come together to be as one during Christmas.
That’s what made this year so weird, in a way. We all celebrated individually. We were together but not ALL together.
And I know, this chapter in all of our lives will hopefully be a thing of the past by this time next year, but for now, we are still doing all we can to get through this pandemic.
That said, how absolutely amazing was it to wake up last Friday and see the ground covered in snow, and the snow still falling?
I felt like Ralphie in “A Christmas Story” when he wakes up and looks out the window Christmas morning.
“Wow.”
— Matt Mackinder