It’s a Wrap

Another Christmas Day has come and gone. Christmas came so quickly this year, which seems in opposition to what one would think. We would think that time would be dragging, living amidst a global pandemic, but for me it feels like the accelerator has been pushed and time is going by so fast that I’m still months behind somewhere. I keep hearing people say I just want this year to hurry up and be over, and yet once time is gone we can’t get it back. I would like the pandemic to be over but the the changing of years on the calendar isn’t going to automatically bring that about. It will be the collective effort of mankind, or not.
People have been stressed about having to be within their own family households for Christmas, many broke the rules, many not caring as long as they had the Christmas they wanted. It made others stop to consider the many who spend Christmas alone every year, and to think about and understand what that has felt like for them. I am one who lives alone and normally spends Christmas alone.

Everyone one was extremely worried about having to zoom, with family instead of in person visits. Yet when you think about when we were young there wasn’t the ability to do visits on video calls, and that was just a mere 20 or 30 years ago. We were asked to change one Christmas and something incredible happened because if it.

I actually had one of the nicest Christmases I have had in recent years. People driving by to drop off baking and treats and gifts, greetings across the parking lot, seeing warm and friendly faces as they pulled up, Christmas Day normally spent alone had me see many people to share laughter and coffee, share traditions and joy, I had more people spend time in my living room via zoom, and FaceTime, something that had not happened in recent years. So although I was alone, in the physical sense I did not spend Christmas alone at all, I spent it with friends from near and far, family in Alberta, friends in Scotland, England, eastern Canada, the US, even Australia, ending with a fabulous visit with a friend in Texas, they were lovely visits, my day flew by, I wasn’t alone.

So while many looked at having zoom Christmas as a negative for myself and likely many others who are normally alone, it was a positive. These visits were heartfelt, they were personal, it was sharing and caring. Seeing someone’s face light up, seeing their families, hearing their voices, seeing the beauty in their decorations, the heartfelt laughter, sharing stories of traditions and memories. It was like a warm hug that other wise would not have been received.

I received an email from a dear friend who lives in Scotland, whom I admire very much last night after our visit yesterday and to hear how it was as good for him as me was so heartwarming.
The silver lining in the midst of a terrible pandemic shone brightly for me yesterday and I won’t forget this Christmas, and I won’t forget, not for what it wasn’t but for what it was.
That’s a wrap.