It is the quintessential snowy Christmas-time day today. The snow is falling quickly and the house is lit with holiday cheer. Hopefully the power will stay on so I can make some holiday cookies and a warm, winter meal for my family this evening. It is a cozy Christmas-time day.
This crazy, and often harsh, pandemic holiday season continues, and as we've been doing since the pandemic began in March, we continue to look for silver linings as we try to stay positive, generous, and upbeat during these challenging days.
So what more are we doing?
Making treats
Today if the power stays on, I'll make some sweet treats to share with loved ones in the days ahead. I have the essential ingredients. That will fill the home with nice smells and give us some nice gifts to deliver.
Wrapping presents
I bought a few presents for my close family members and neighbors. I'll wrap those and deliver the neighbors' gifts soon so they can place them under their trees.
Planning the holiday meals
Since our gatherings will be very small, I'll plan some new meals for the holidays. For Christmas eve, we'll have a dinner of sushi, seafood, and salad. On Christmas Day I'll make strawberry crepes and for Christmas Day dinner I'll likely have a traditional roast of some kind with all the usual fixings including carrots, potatoes, squash, and some greens. For dessert we'll have ice cream and a sweet of some kind - perhaps gingerbread.
Holiday ZOOM
We'll ZOOM with family members. For one ZOOM gathering we have secret santas and during that time people will open their gifts and guess who their secret santa is. We'll likely share the year's good news, watch a short family video, and perhaps sing a song or two. The other ZOOM agenda is yet to be decided.
This will be a Christmas we will always remember, and we'll work to make those memories as positive as possible.