Christmas 2020: How is it Special for You?
By: Marilyn Flower
Tags: Christmas, Covid 19, Wisdom, Family, Writing Prompts

2020 will be the year to remember for some of us. And for others, it will be the year to forget as fast as possible.

We didn’t ask for a deadly pandemic to infect our planet, our lives, our bodies when the year dawned, young and ripe. We didn’t ask for a second pandemic of racial violence. However, many of us welcomed the wide-spread outcry and public conversations of what’s hard to talk about.

We didn’t ask for a skyrocketing death toll or safety precautions becoming controversial.

And yet, here we are, celebrating Christmas, Chanukah, and/or Winter Solstice in the midst of all this — as we say in Yiddish — mishigas (craziness).

Yes, there are a lot of restrictions. But they vary. Some areas are on fairly strict sheltering-in-place. Others are more open.

Either way, we’re being asking, warned, or guided to stay close to home, keep our bubbles small, Christmasing on Zoom.

Can you hear the new carol — I’ve been dreaming of a Zoom Christmas…Unlike the ones I use to know…Where the boxes glisten, and children listen to hear, “UNMUTE YOURSELF ALREADY!

Some of us batten down willingly and may not have had places to go or people to see anyway.

Others are sad or angry at not being able to hold the new grandbaby, play Santa in person, or hug loved ones up close.

Like my sister’s family, still, others decided to take the risks, travel anyway, quarantine on arrival, thrilled to be together for a little while.

New conditions bring out new qualities.

For some, it brings out our worst ones. We’re taking Scrooge’s bah humbug to new levels. For some, the SAD Seasonal Affective Disorder depression’s on steroids. We’d like to hibernate. Wake me when Christmas is over. Or better yet, January 20th.

Others of us try to figure out how to make Christmas feel like Christmas as best we can. That’s our question for this week’s Middle-Pause Pump-Priming Prompt.

What memories are you making? What goodies are you baking? How are you doing it differently this year?

There’s a lot we can still do.

We can still play and sing Christmas songs. I love A Charlie Brown Christmas, the soundtrack from the Peanuts special by jazz great Vince Guaraldi and his trio. Any song on that track is an instant cheer up.

Thanks to Pandora.com, I have several (commercial free!) Christmas music stations. One is smooth jazz Christmas. Another is the Anonymous 4, featuring medieval chant and church music sung acapella. And last but not least, a Chanticeer Christmas featuring luscious choral arrangements.

Music makes a huge difference in my mood and ability to cope. Singing lifts my spirits up and over the petty obstacles that I seem to have less tolerance for when my nerves are shot.

And right after my biopsy, my nerves were shot. I didn’t expect that. Or that I’d have a few tearful meltdowns best described as hormonal. But I did.

We can still decorate trees, put up lights, bake cookies to share, filling the house with great smells. The party may have to be on Zoom, but we can still show off how we’ve brightened our homes.

Or we can put up a virtual background and not worry about decorating or even making the place presentable. That’s my option! I found a lovely photo of soft candlelight. What you see is what you get.

We can still brighten others’ lives.

We can still purge our closets and pantries to give away clothes, toiletries, and non-perishable food items to those who need them. Like Katie wrote about in her story. I’ll Be Alone for Christmas but Not Lonely, helping others lift our spirits, not just theirs.

I plan to give away items to Goodwill, Out of the Closet, and a local women’s shelter that is deeply appreciative of those hotel sample toiletries that I collect for just this purpose.

I will also donate to the Alameda County Food Bank. With COVID, the usual demand has increased dramatically above Christmas pasts. We can help feed hungry folks.

We can give gifts, homemade or store-bought. I’ve enjoyed shopping locally, supporting family-based businesses. My sister and family are getting three goody baskets from The Turquoise Museum Bakery Cafe.

They’ll get to try out a new white chocolate cranberry cookie recipe. A Christmas floral arrangement for their table comes on Wednesday with the last delivery. Shhh. Don’t tell. It’s a surprise!

Have Zoom, will “travel.”

We have a call planned for tomorrow morning. It will be fun seeing both nieces, my grandniece, Moira, my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew-in-law. We sing with the baby and act silly. But it’s not the same as being there in person.

If I were, we’d be playing Bananagrams, watching movies, looking at lights. My sister, nieces, and I would work on art journals and scrapbooks as well as attend church.

We’d go out for lattes and treats at our favorite Flying Star Cafe. They will all go up the mountain to see the Luminaria. At best, I will join via face-time. (But I’ll stay toasty warm while they traipse in the snow).

What helps me is staying positive. Humor does that. And knowing, like everything else, this too shall pass. We’ll have a chance to catch up and do it all up right next year, hopefully, or the year after.

In the meantime, have a merry Christmas, and happy holiday however it needs to be. Oh, and be sure and get out in the early night sky to enjoy the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn that shine bright as the Christmas Star.

Whatever you’ve got planned, please share it with us here on Middle-Pause. How are you doing it differently this year?

We look forward to hearing from you!