Preparing for a COVID Christmas

Christmas falls on the same day every year, but it feels like we have had a lot more time to think about it since we are spending more time at home.

This year, for example we had the bulk of our presents ordered, delivered and wrapped before Thanksgiving, which was unheard of previously. This blog and our Christmas cards had been started before we carved the turkey!

As usual, we bought our tree from the Bantam Fire Company tree sale (a Jani project), which was held earlier than in prior years. We brought the tree into the house and decorated it much sooner than in the past; and, for a change, nothing is back-ordered and there are no late-arriving gifts.

Christmas trees etc. Slideshow

This extra time has us thinking about Christmases past. We realize that we have many more photos of Christmases than any other holiday. We thought we would share them with you.

Christmas Past, a Gallery

An explanation may be in order to clarify these pictures. First, we started a tradition of reading from Clement Clarke Moore’s “The Night Before Christmas” (with Tasha Tudor’s Corgi illustrations) every Christmas Eve. Years later, NPR introduced us to Uncle Hyggly and his comical rendition of the same, titled “Mr. Gonopolis and His Twelve Holsteins”. It is a Wisconsin take on having a Dairy Christmas and we have read both of these books for over 30 years each Christmas Eve. It now falls to Sam and Jude to carry on this tradition.

We were lucky enough to have some aunts and uncles spend their Christmases with us. These include Gary’s younger sister, Stacy, and Jani’s younger brothers, Will and Martin. Their presence always seemed to make that Christmas even more exciting.

Ornament Gallery

We are aware that our trees and ornaments would never qualify for a White House Christmas, but that is by choice. While we do not favor Charlie Brown Christmas Trees, we also know that we do not require a “perfect tree”. It is satisfying enough just to have a tree in the house for a few weeks.

As for ornaments, you can see that we favor ornaments made by our children and their children. We love unpacking them every year and try to be careful re-packing them after the holidays are over. Some are almost 40 years old.