A COVID Christmas (2020), Part 1

EAST COAST- BANTAM CT & CROTON-ON-HUDSON NY

Despite the adjustments we made to assure a “safe” Christmas , we were able to celebrate with family, keep our Christmas traditions intact, and observe the smiles of our grandsons, if only through masks. The pandemic failed to diminish the festivities nor the holiday spirit, for which we are thankful.

Austin and Nicole had requested that we make some changes to make our usual Christmas Eve and Christmas Day visits compliant with established health guidelines, so we moved our dining room table into our main room, setting up separate tables for our Christmas Eve meal. Their family sat at one table and we were at a second table. Save for when we were eating, we wore masks and made sure some windows and doors remained open. Traditionally we read special poems on Christmas and we were able to stay far enough apart to do that as well.

REDESIGNED “CHRISTMAS ROOM”

As in the past Austin and Nicole’s family joined us for Christmas Eve and we went to their home in New York to exchange presents Christmas Day. The major storm we anticipated turned out to be a minor storm, so we were able to stay with the original plan.

As expected, the meal was important to the adults, but our grandkids seemed more focused on the stockings that we had moved to the large fireplace in the new Christmas Room. We had a wonderful dinner that featured shrimp cocktail (we saved shrimp for Santa), roast beef, stuffed potatoes (with a hint of Roquefort), and a new recipe rendition of vegetables.

READING CHRISTMAS POEMS

Afterward we opened stocking gifts, read our traditional poems (see post on Christmas preparations). In a great surprise, Sam and Jude read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” together. Sam performed the main reading, and Jude, 6, would chime in with the parts that he knew from memory. Nicole and Austin shared the reading of “Mr. Gonopolis”, another first.

ANNUAL BAKED ALASKA

It would not be Christmas in our house unless we sampled Jani’s baked alaska for our dessert In a pleasant surprise, this year she had an eager helper in Jude. He helped in each stage of this masterpiece:

BANTAM CHRISTMAS: GALLERY

Christmas Day, we drove over to Croton-on-Hudson for present opening and some more good food, namely traditional sweet rolls and “Aunt Betty’s Casserole”. The gallery of photos below are pretty self-explanatory:

CROTON CHRISTMAS: GALLERY