A COVID Christmas

Well, as they say near the end of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas,"  "It came just the same."  We couldn't stop Christmas from coming... so we resolved to make the best of it. We survived, and I would say it was probably as good as a holiday could be, under the circumstances...! 

Christmas Eve:  We drove over to BIL's house to deliver gifts. Unfortunately, Little Great-Nephew was napping so we didn't get to see him. :(  We'll try again for a brief visit later this week (maybe New Year's Eve?), masked & socially distanced. 

StepMIL called, and we got caught up on the news from her family. We haven't seen them since early March, just before the pandemic & first round of lockdowns hit, although we've spoken on the phone a few times. 

I had suggested to dh that he look for some frozen fish fillets for Christmas Eve dinner, when he went to the grocery store on Tuesday -- I was thinking of these High Liner things we used to get, packaged with sauce. He got breaded cod patties. Oh well... that's 2020 for you! They weren't bad, actually, lol.  And of course, there was wine...!  ;)  

Later that evening, there were Zoom calls -- first, one with my aunties & some of my cousins on my dad's side of the family, and then later one with my parents, sister & her partner, and Parents' Neighbours' Daughter and her family (her husband & the two Little Princesses). (PND has spent at least part of every Christmas with us since she was a baby!)  My sister & her boyfriend drove out to see my parents on the morning of Christmas Eve (about an hour's drive) -- and then returned to the city with leftover ham from my dad and other goodies. ;)  (They also stopped briefly at PND's house and drove away with cookies decorated by the Little Princesses.) They'd wanted to do it earlier in the week, but the weather was bad and roads were not good then. She wouldn't go in the house, so they sat out in the garage on lawn chairs (in frigid temperatures that were probably cold enough to kill off any lurking virus, lol), but at least they saw each other for a little while. My parents have been married 60 years and this is the first Christmas they've spent with just the two of them! 

It was dark & gloomy for most of the day here. The forecast called for freezing rain or snow. Shortly after the sun set, the snow started falling. It continued all night, and we woke up to a white Christmas!  (To be specific, we woke up at 5:30 a.m. to the sound of snowplows right outside our window...!)  I can only remember one or two Christmases in my lifetime when there wasn't snow on the ground (some years more than others, obviously) -- but hereabouts, a white Christmas is not a given -- so I was thrilled!  I posted a photo of the scene outside my window on my social media accounts, saying, "Well, 2020, you finally got one thing right!!"  lol  

Christmas Day (yesterday): We stuffed stockings for each other (with lots of chocolate in them), and opened them first thing on Christmas morning. Dh made scrambled eggs & toast for brunch, and we had a turkey breast roast for dinner, similar to the one we had at Thanksgiving -- only this one had stuffing in the middle. Apple pie (warmed up in the oven) with ice cream for dessert. And wine, of course. ;)  

While dinner was in the oven, I challenged dh to a few rounds of the card or board game of his choice --something our family usually does several times over the Christmas holidays.  We wound up playing nine rounds of Yahtzee!  (I won six rounds to dh's three.)  My sister called, and I called our parents (even though I'd just Zoomed with them the night before), and dh talked to his brother.  My mother complained that it was Christmas Day and she was doing LAUNDRY (I said, "Well, the laundry has to be done sometime...!"). They ordered two turkey dinners to go from a local caterer who was offering them -- but of course, that meant no smell of roasting turkey wafting through the kitchen all day... 

When all's said & done, OF COURSE, I would have preferred to be with my family out west. Even if we couldn't be with them for some reason (other than COVID-19), there's a lot of things I would probably have done differently, if it wasn't for COVID-19 and the current lockdown -- if we were free to socialize with other people, and if I was free to go to the mall and supermarket to shop for the things I wanted/needed, in the same way that I could at this time last year.  

But on its own merits -- and considering the limitations we're operating under -- it wasn't really a bad two days. I said to dh that if we HAD to stay here, by ourselves, I wanted it to be at least a little special (i.e., not just another day at home) -- and I think we managed that, even with COVID to work around. 

I hope you can say the same! <3 

A white Christmas! :) 
2020, you finally got something right...!  ;)