Holiday

[GoneButNotForgotten]

Like most people's, our was rather dismal. Since my granddaugher's parents won't let her come see us, I didn't have the heart to put up a Christmas tree. Plus after a tumble I took recently, I'm kind of sore anyway.

We DID see our granddaughter on Christmas eve and, oh what a character she's turning into! While we were standing on the porch and chatting with her parents (our son is her father and supposedly they're keeping us out of their house for caution's sake), Haley blurted out something we weren't supposed to know and I burst out laughing.

Her parents were red as beets and perhaps I should have controlled myself better but I just couldn't help it. My d.i.l. looked like she wanted to sink through the floor but other than laughing, I didn't make reference to it.

They did something really nice for my DH: a brand new, hand-made, engraved baseball glove of some kind, probably outfielder's. In a few more years if this pandeminc ever goes away they can play catch.

So, it wasn't the best Christmas I've ever had but it wasn't the worst. I hope next year will be better--for all of us!

[spiderw]

I fully decorated my house and that made the season festive and happy.  Of course not being able to shop as usual and see family and friends was not easy.  However, the day after Christmas I still felt sad because it was over.  I always love Sept. to Jan. and it seems the months flew by in a blink.  

I try to take it a day at a time and enjoy.  Hopefully next Christmas will be safe and we will celebrate our holidays as we did before the pandemic.  

I hope you have a speedy recovery from your fall. stay safe.

[Vivian]

Just like our Zoom Thanksgiving, my family had a Christmas Eve Zoom celebration. Of course it didn't compare to in-person interaction, but everyone in my family and my best friend were online, which would not have happened in person. We are just trying to make the best of it. And this week I started my beagle on chemo for her soft tissue sarcoma. I give her one pill a day and it allegedly is not strong. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because with the chemo we increase the chances that there will be no tumor regrowth. Her surgery went very well but these tumors tend to come back.

[Mominohio]

I did a light version of decorating, and because we were sick with Covid right before Thanksgiving, and because we didn't expect to gather with any family, we bought few gifts and did little of the 'normal' holiday things. Stove is broken so I baked a minimal amount of cookies for the family in a roaster, and it was very time consuming. 

Since we had the Covid  already, we decided to go ahead and get together the day after Christmas with my son, his SO and new grandchild. They were at her family's events on Christmas eve and Christmas day, plus she had to work Christmas Day. 

It was low key, light on everything including gifts, decor, baking, food etc. But it was enough. 

I missed getting together with my best girlfriend in the usual way. We did meet up during the week of Christmas in a park (it was sunny and 50 degrees which is about as good as it gets in Ohio in December) and pulled our cars side by side, and had a distanced lunch she picked up on the way. We visited for a couple of hours. Normally we would have done a nice restaurant meal and a movie in the theater.

My low point was that my 84 year old mom was not here, even though she lives next door. We are keeping her as isolated as possible this winter, so while I sent up gifts for her to find on her porch each day during the week of Christmas, and talked to her on the phone a lot, it wasn't the same as getting together.

It wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. First year I didn't have my son here on the actual Christmas day, but he is 24, and we knew the time would come that he might not get here on the actual holiday. This was that year, and it was easier to handle than I had anticipated.

[proudlyfromNJ]

Ours didn't go as planned. We had a horrible rain and wind storm the night before. We live in a very wooded area so many many trees came down. I woke up at three AM and saw light fluttering through the blinds. When I pulled it up there were flames sky high in the woods behind us. My husband called 911 and I got the cat cage. All of a sudden flames were gone. Found out later all the live wires were on fire. Electric came on about 30 hours later. Thank goodness for the generator. 

We'll be headed to the relatives this weekend instead. Our guidelines are 10 people gathering.

[Catty2]

We met at a park - it was 70 outside.  My 3 great nephews brought their new toys - a scooter, a hoverboard and a small toddler push car.  We all had masks on and opened gifts.  Not like our usual celebration where we have tamales for dinner and watch a movie afterwards.  Hoping next year will be better for getting together with family.  

[KingstonsMom]

@Mominohio 

So glad you and DH recovered from Covid!

What a sweet thing you did for Mom next door with her daily gifts, I'm sure it really helped brighten her days!

Also a good idea you and your friend had to still be able to spend some time with each other!

It sound like all the way around you made the best you could out of our trying situation these days.

[mac116]

We decorated a bit less than last year, by choice as we slowly try to cut the clutter. Our older son and his family came over on December 18 for a socially distant visit. We had lots of food, wine, and laughs. We had a brief visit with our younger son's family. His wife recently had major surgery, so we kept our distance. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent at home with DH.  Zoom visit with everyone, then lovely dinner.  We are happy that everyone is well and keeping safe!

[Travone]

My family did not celebrate as we are socially distancing.  I spent way too much time on the phone with family and friends. 

I didn't plan on "seeing" anyone or leaving my house.  But, we were slammed with snow so I needed to shovel.  While I was out there, more and more of my neighbors came out to do the same thing.  We had great conversations and laughs from across the steet....and then the fun started.  A large scale snow-ball fight, with everyone being socially distant. It was a hoot.

All in all, a much better day than I had anticipated. 

[Kachina624]

@GoneButNotForgotten .  I think you have a bad attitude and are very ungrateful for your son's and dil's efforts to keep you safe and alive.  Perhaps due to their hesitancy to expose you to this horrid virus, you'll live to celebrate other holidays.  You seem to infer they have ulterior motives, and delight in relating that you managed to embarrass your dil.  Millions of people had less than stellar holidays but are mature enough to understand the reasons why they can't hug their grandchildren and accept them without complaint.