This is the last blog I will write before Christmas, which is a holiday that I celebrate. And there are other important religious holidays during this time as well. No matter the holiday that you celebrate, this year will be different. Where I live, we have been asked or advised to avoid large gatherings, wear masks, and stay physically distant.
I am fortunate. No close family member or friend has succumbed to COVID. May this continue to be true. But for too many people, loved ones have been lost to COVID, almost 300,000. A staggering number.
Because my family celebrates Christmas, I have many meaningful memories of the holiday. Most involve special activities with other people, getting and trimming a Christmas tree, baking Christmas cookies, exchanging gifts, special parties, Christmas Eve church services, and a big family dinner with special holiday dishes.
This year, some of those events will occur, but pared down. Getting a tree but decorating it alone. Baking a few cookies but giving them to others from a safe distance. Exchanging gifts but only with a few people within my ‘pod.’ I am thankful that even these scaled down events will happen. Anything else related to the season will be done ‘remotely,’ or not at all.
It would be easy to simply mourn the diminished holidays. For some, because of personal losses, it will be a time of mourning and understandably. Nearly everyone will have a more-or-less blue Christmas or other holiday this year. So many traditions will be scaled back or canceled, so many loved ones will remain physically distant or be mourned.
But I will choose to both acknowledge the differences and the losses and look beyond. I will endeavor to reflect on the essence of the holiday, too. For me, what is the core message of Christmas? Hope, giving love, persevering. Here are my thoughts on these, universalized.
- Hope, the birth of a child offers new possibilities and continuity
- Giving love, the child is born to teach the world to love
- Persevering, the humble beginnings of this birth emphasize that all of us matter and all deserve to live fully
I wish all some hope, love, and a vision or perseverance this holiday season.