 |
| German pancakes are a favorite holiday food--best with warm maple syrup and fresh cut strawberries. |
There is a magical quality to the holidays. That magic is created by decorating, storytelling, gift wrapping, and the many festivities that create and remind us of good memories throughout life. Creating and enjoying that magic demands some forethought, planning, prep, and decision making. Given the circumstances of your year, what makes sense when it comes to holiday magic.
At our house, we added the lights at Thanksgiving as a way to brighten the dim pandemic landscape. Later we added more decorations that brought warmth to our home during the dark late fall days. We shopped for modest, but thoughtful, gifts to let our closest family members and friends know that we are thinking of them, and we've watched and listened to a number of holiday films and songs. We've turned our attention mostly from the dreary Trump shenanigans and viral spread to the warmth and cheer of a safe, but happy holiday season.
Now that the decorating, gift buying/making, and wrapping is done, what's next?
We'll mail and deliver packages. We'll make some traditional holiday meals and sweets. For example, just this morning we made a declicious German pancake for breakfast--we generally only make these sweet treats at the holildays. Other traditional foods we'll like make include crepes, holiday cookies, and seafood dishes. Since we're heading in the direction of a predominantly plant based diet, I'm sure we'll explore some festive vegetarian meals as well.
The holiday agenda will differ greatly this year due to pandemic limitations, but we'll still make it special with a focus on intimacy--the good times we can have with our small group of loved ones. Our agenda will likely include the following:
- Cookie baking, ornament making, holiday films and songs
- More wrapping (not more buying)
- Some holiday hikes
- Holiday Family Zooms
- Christmas Eve special dinner (TBD)
- Christmas Day special brunch and dinner (TBD)