Christmas is not cancelled but it will certainly be a little bit different this year. As our beautiful country works its way through lockdown for the second time, many of us are thinking ahead to what our celebrations will or won’t look like this year.
Naturally, considering this time of year is ordinarily filled with love and hope, looking forward to the season of sparkle is not as bright as we would like. We’ve longed for hugs, for the laughter and the celebration which comes with being so intricately connected with our family and friends at such a special time. We are bracing ourselves for a meaningful Christmas, but we also know things will be a little different this year. In the hopes that staying apart during this period will mean we can come together this December with even a handful of our closest family, we’ve a few ideas to help us live our best Christmas this year, bearing in mind how we celebrate will be dependent on where we are on the Living with Covid plan.
Go Small with your Christmas Celebrations
It is safe to say there will be very few large gatherings this Christmas as we protect our loved ones. In many ways, this means we are forced to look at our social contacts and choose who we are to spend Christmas with. Essentially, we are deciding on who mean the most to us and who we want to share these special celebrations with. While the full dinner setting with twenty of our closest family may not take place, a socially distanced mince pie together under twinkling streetlights will be extra special. Finding alternative ways to connect and meet with our nearest and dearest, such as meeting a best friend to exchange gifts and toast our families with a home brewed mulled wine before parting ways with a merry Christmas, will be a treasured moment in a year when these moments have been rare. The gatherings may be small, the meetings may be quick, but the sentiment of Christmas is strong. It is up to us to appreciate every small moment we can gather.
Go Big with your Christmas Celebrations
By big, we mean decoration of course! It may feel somewhat pointless or futile to decorate our houses as much as we ordinarily do, but Christmas is a time of sparkles and lights and cinnamon. Unwrap all of your decorations and dust them off out of the attic. Spread the cheer by lighting up your house for all to see but most importantly for you and your family. The run up to Christmas is often the most exciting. With the Toy Show and new Christmas movies on the box, the excitement, especially for the younger members of our families, is always alive.
Go Virtual with your Christmas Celebrations
We’ve all become fairly accustomed to video calls and hopping on Zoom. While it is no replacement for that face to face connection, we can not forget how technology kept us all connected this year. A Zoom Christmas Party with full on party games can be just as fun as in person, and no doubt we’ll still be watching Grandad fall asleep on the sofa. Mix up a virtual Christmas dinner with friends and family by prepping and organising a quick and simple menu everyone can throw together at home. Connect by eating the same foods, listening to the same music, and drinking the same wine, all over Zoom. Play charades, run a quiz, invent a drinking game, and ban the bad C word from the conversation.
Go Retro with your Christmas Celebrations
Christmas often becomes somewhat monetised as we dig deep for gifts. This year, with shopping down the high street being limited and many of us with financial concerns, take a step back and organise a Secret Santa so there are fewer presents to buy and more thought involved in buying the quirkiest local gifts. In this way, we focus less on items and more on appreciating the quality time we have together, however brief or limited during the season. Set a task to find a specific type of gift which must be from a local store, home grown or handmade. Secret Santa never gets old and the challenge is always appreciated when the gift is unwrapped. While we’re at it, don’t forget to send those Christmas cards this year. In recent years, the art of sending our regards by snail mail has waned. This year we have brought it back with our intentions for our friends and family to know they are in our hearts and minds. With your Christmas card this year, write a bucket list of all the things you and your family member or friend will do once life returns to normal.
Go Traditional with your Christmas Celebrations
Our Christmas traditions are often the things we look forward to the most and with this year being a little up in the air, we wonder if we will manage these traditions. The Christmas Eve family get-together may not happen in its traditional sense but can be reignited in a different way such as over Zoom. Or instead of a get together, organise an online baking session with your sisters. Still together but in respective kitchens means less mess to clean up unless you’re ‘that’ sister! Our traditions are as important as ever and if you can reimagine them in a socially distanced, online, or other manner, they will live on.
We can easily spend the run up to Christmas worrying or being upset about what we can’t do. Instead let’s sidestep and think about what we can do. How we can make this season as special as possible in these trying days. Remember our loved ones all want to connect with us and there are plenty of ways to be together without being in the same room. Mix it up. Celebrate and be hopeful.
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Photo by Fezbot2000 on Unsplash
