When life gives you bitter lemons, you just have to work a little harder to get the right amount of zest out of it. Such was the case with this year’s Christmas Season. Christmas was not cancelled, but it was definitely different and we had to work a bit harder to capture the Christmas Spirit.
My lovely wife has a lot of good ideas, many of which she will tell you I do not go along with, because, I am, well, too serious (grumpy). In keeping with my recent theme of Grow Old, But Don’t Grow Up, I have found my self agreeing to more and more of these good ideas of late, particularly during the Christmas Season. Here was our recipe for Christmas Spirit this crazy year of 2020:
Christmas Eve Day
- Limited social media access, except for communicating seasonal wishes
- No news feed, TV news, radio news after 8:00 AM
- Turn on the Frame Fireplace channel
- Listen to Christmas carols while you accomplish your daily tasks
- Watch old family Christmas videos (we started in 1958 and worked our way up to1989)
- Cook and enjoy your Christmas dinner one day early
- Attempt to take your shut-in brother a home cooked Christmas dinner in the care home where he lives (and fail) due to current Covid restrictions, argue your case (but still fail), shed tears
- Drive back home for spiked eggnog and goodies
- Watch a Hallmark Christmas movie
- Watch Christmas Eve service on YouTube. I spotted the one from Canterbury Cathedral and not only was it like travelling to a foreign country, but the chorale singing and sound of the pipe organ was phenomenally beautiful. You may want to look this up. Here is the link. A Traditional Canterbury Christmas Carol Service – Christmas Eve, 2020 | Canterbury Cathedral – YouTube
Christmas Day
- Send out Christmas wishes to everyone you hold dear, including a video of us in our ugly Christmas sweaters singing “We wish you a Merry Christmas”. The video was Patty’s idea and was a lot of fun, even though I was told I need to smile more.
- Enjoy morning coffee, chocolate and a great breakfast.
- Text, E-mail, chat, phone with countless people to share wishes for the season
- Long Skype with the kids for conversation and gift opening. They may be fully grown now, but the results were eerily similar, after they opened their gifts. Conversation slowed down and they worked away on the puzzles we gave them.
- Don your best Christmas onesie, grab the camera on a tripod and head out to spread some socially distanced Christmas cheer and smiles. (This was totally my Patty’s plan, I was the project organizer, driver and photographer). We visited 10 locations and travelled 130 km in about 4 hours. Only our first stop knew we were coming. Every other call was spontaneous and elicited smiles at our goofy appearance. It all went well and we were left with more Christmas spirit than we knew what to do with.
- back home for a quick bite and then a Christmas Zoom party
- Collapse
Christmas Spirit was in abundance this year and we do not feel like we missed anything.
How did your Christmas celebrations go? Stay well and thanks for reading.
What a wonderful way to Celebrate Christmas. We did a glam night on Christmas Eve – dressed up in our finery. Even Terry wore his tux (last time was 20 years ago) – then it was into the ugly sweaters Christmas Day. Definately a different way to spend the holidays. looking forward to see what you get up to on New Years Eve
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It was. Your Christmas sounds like fun, as well. Oh, there may not be any pix about our New Year’s Eve. Thanks for reading Ann. Allan
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Woke up Christmas morning with no plans and not quite knowing how the day was going to unfold. Then what to our wondering eyes did appeared, our ex neighbors dressed in their finest onesies….. thank you for the curb side visit, you made our Christmas/Birthday special!!❤️
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Kinda scary how a day can go in retirement, when you have no plans, is it not. Thanks Colleen. That was a fun day. Allan
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My Michael made a fabulous feast, we talked and texted with family and had one colleague join us for dinner (allowed in our NWT bubble). It was great. 🙂 Yours looks like it was a lot of fun.
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That sounds awesome Lynette. Glad you had a good day. Yes, our attempt to bring smiles more than paid off for us and our victims. Cheers. Allan
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Love your “C” filled day of completely crazy off the cuff chargings. Well done Patty and Allan. Christmas wasn’t cancelled – we just needed to find a new Christmas way.
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Glad you liked it. Seems pandemics and full moons both bring out the lunatics. It was great fun. Thanks for reading Bernie. Stay well. Allan
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Really enjoyed your surprise visit, was great to get a break form Covid boredom and especially to see family members,you really did make the day brighter and looked great. Easter is coming so expect the Easter Bunny to visit
Thanks again and Happy New Year
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Glad we could bring some smiles in this crazy times. Virtual hugs to you both. We have our Easter onesies on order, so watch for it…… Allan
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It sounds like you had the best Christmas possible. That was something I wished all my family and friends this year. We have all had losses this year, but some more than others. Bottom line: it’s important to show love for each other right now and that’s what I did my best to do. So happy for you having a good day! 😊
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You have that right. If we could only find a way to keep the Christmas spirit for our fellow man going throughout the year, the world would be a better place, even in the adversity that we face. Glad you were able to share the Christmas spirit. Allan
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I completely agree!
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It sounds and looks like you had a fun different Christmas and your ideas are a great way to overcome this socially distanced Christmas!
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It was. My Patty has a lot of good ideas. When life gives you challenges, you just have to find another way. Thanks for reading and commenting Blanca. Allan
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What a lovely idea to spread some socially distanced Christmas cheer and smiles, whether it’s to the 10 locations that you visited or to us readers. Our Christmas celebration was very low key. Lots of FaceTiming, Skyping and Zooming. But the best part of all is that we had a massive snow storm on Dec 24th and were finally able to enjoy a white Christmas. I can’t wait to get out and go for a hike in this winter wonderland. Take care.
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It was quite hilarious to watch the smiles on the faces of those we surprised. The good thing is that they were all home, but then, where would they be during a pandemic. Many of them had not seen another friendly face in months. So happy you got your white Christmas. Your winter hike will be so enjoyable and….no mosquitoes. Thanks for smiling along. Allan
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All of that ❣️
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What a fantastic way to celebrate Christmas. I love your outfits! Our Christmas celebration was so much fun. We baked gingerbread cookies and made a proper festive feast. Our next door neighbour dressed up as a Santa and brought a bag with a few gifts for Ericeira and left it by the door. After a brief exchange of words with Santa, much to our and his surprise, she recognized him. Thanks for sharing and have a good day. Aiva
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It was a blast for sure. Our lovely children, who we liked to embarrass as they grew up gave us the onesies. The good news is that we can still embarrass them. That sounds like a great Christmas for your family. Yup, sooner or later, the Santa magic becomes a little more clear to the kiddies. Tanks for reading and commenting, Aiva. Allan
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What a wonderful Christmas! Looks so much fun! The Christmas spirit was hard to come by but we had a good time anyway! We ate a lot and often! Watched Christmas movies…I just remembered I forgot to pull out my accordion this year! It’s a Christmas Eve tradition and I completely forgot until
right now! Surprisingly my husband did not remind me…🙄. Glad you had a great Christmas!!
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Hi Lori. Merry Christmas to you and yours. Our little escapade was a blast. Hope we did not run afoul of too many restrictions. Sounds like you had a fun low key Christmas that almost went accordianly to plan. Me beloved did not ask me to break out my mandolin. Perhaps they are trying subtly to tell us something. Thanks for reading. Now, go and serenade him with a nice polka. Allan
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I’m so sorry you weren’t able to take a Christmas dinner to your brother! I think that rules do need to be bent sometimes, but obviously that didn’t happen, and I can’t imagine how disappointing that was. Still, it sounds as if you recovered your Christmas spirit and I think you did a wonderful job of “making lemonade out of lemons.” Your Christmas photos made me smile, and I image that they brought many smiles to those you visited. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
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The ruling was in writing, so I know that whichever employee violated it would have been likely let go. However, why is takeout food allowed, when it passes from chef to server to cashier to Uber or taxi driver who may have had his mask hanging on the mirror for 6 weeks. Common sense is not common any more. Yes, we had a lot of fun from our morning video clip of us singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas to 60 or so friends and relatives to our family Skype and then our 4 hour expedition. Glad you shared in the joy. That is what Christmas should bring. Merry Christmas to you and your family Ann and thanks so much for reading. Allan
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This was just fantastic!!
Christmas was definitely different this year but our home was wasn’t lacking the spirit at all. We will have to invest in some super cool onesies for future use though HAHA
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It was a great escapade for those who received our visits and from us who gave. We got a lot of good feedback and one even said they are now looking forward to Easter. The onesies were certainly eye catching. I would have had a tough time getting at my wallet if we got pulled over by the police. Thanks for reading Angie. Allan
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Such a great way to spread joy! You guys are the coolest!
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