I was raised by a woman obsessed with Christmas. Even now I think my mom has five Christmas trees in her house where only two people live. My mother was so crazy about Christmas she had a collection of Santa Clauses that were displayed year round. YEAR ROUND! That means in June my friends could come to my house and see a bunch of jolly white bearded fat men staring them down. 365 days people would tenderly ask me if my parents forgot to take down our Christmas decorations. One result of all this merriment was the invention of the Christmas Finger. Similar to most families we all spend a lot of time together during the holidays. November and December adds up to more togetherness than the whole rest of the months combined. The middle Christmas finger is commonly used when you are trying to show your Christmas joy to one of the many relatives that are irritating you from across the room. Displaying your Christmas Spirit can only be accomplished with showing the jolliest of all your digits, which is the middle one.
Christmas this year has been hard for everyone. I am sure that I am not the only one that is missing some of the joys that we have all taken for granted. With COVID on the rise many of our traditional Christmas activities have been cancelled. Every year we used to have "Breakfast With Baby Jesus"at my church. The kids would dress up as a camel, a sheep, an angel, wise men, or a star and then get their picture taken with baby Jesus. They would do crafts, sing carols, listen to stories, and eat pancakes. Breakfast was cancelled this year. Last year every time we drove past an outside nativity scene my kids would scream "BABY JESUS!!" This year every time we drive past an outdoor nativity scene my 5 year old sadly says "Poor baby Jesus. Nobody gets to have Breakfast with him. Stupid Cornavirus."
Santa is a different experience this year too. My husband and I always look forward to the toddler crying on Santa's lap picture. Our toddlers torment us so much we feel this is a small amount of payback that brings us joy. This year the girls visited with Santa behind Plexiglas. They talked with him on the phone and sat in front of the glass to take the picture. No screaming toddler because Santa was caged. Apparently Santas are much less terrifying and way more jolly when they are sitting in a clear jail cell. My girls did get to pet and feed Santa's non-caged reindeer. The irony of 2020 knows no bounds.
However, despite all these changes it is still Christmas. I still feel the joy in singing and dancing to Christmas songs with my kids. We are still making cookies and gingerbread houses while eating way too many ingredients. We are still hanging stockings and decking the halls. Fred the elf is still flying around our house every night, unless my husband forgot something. The Christmas movies are still in full swing and put on repeat. Christmas lights are still the magic trick to get my kids to stop fighting in the car while driving around town. Christmas has not been cancelled, it is just different. As my kids get older our traditions will change. My kids love decorating the tree now but when they get older they might not. My toddler loves rearranging all of the decorations around the house now but when she gets older she might barely notice them. All my girls see the magic in Christmas but when they grow they might only see the stress. Christmas is different every year when you have kids and this year is just another kind of Christmas difference. I still see the joy, I still see the magic, and I still see the Promise. Merry Christmas because it is still a Wonderful Christmas!
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