A dear friend recently said: "Sometimes this COVID life feels like Groundhog Day, one pretty much identical day after the other", which I think is a spot-on description. It's been described as Corona Fatigue, and we're all just so d*mn tired, both physically and emotionally, that it's easy to let go of our safety standards of masks and social distancing... but, this is why the numbers of illnesses are creeping up again, and why 300,000 people are needlessly dead. Stay the course, people!
This has definitely been a weird holiday season, and I personally have felt no desire to decorate. What's the point, when the only person who's been inside our condo since mid-March is the Total A/C guy? I did at least visit our storage unit down the hall and dragged out the Jingle Bell wreath and the Joy doormat for our front door/entrance. From the outside, we appear festive... :-)
The Santas will not be making an appearance this year, but I have vowed to head back to the storage unit, rummage through the Rubbermaid containers, and find: the Santa hat for my Buddha; a few holiday candles; holiday gift bags (I did buy presents that need wrapping, you know!); and the ceramic light-up tree that always reminds me of my mom's. Okay, maybe a few holiday mugs, the better to drink my hot cocoa with vegan marshmallows and a splash of Kahlua in. Maybe a holiday dishtowel or two. Okay, that's it! No more! Just trying to walk that fine line between Ho Ho Ho and Bah, Humbug.
And, of course, typing all this, I am reminded of the passage from How the Grinch Stole Christmas:
And, of course, typing all this, I am reminded of the passage from How the Grinch Stole Christmas:
“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?
It came without ribbons. It came without tags.
It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
I think many hearts will grow three sizes this holiday season and, as much as we will miss certain traditions and regret the opportunity to gather in larger numbers, we will cherish who and what we have to be grateful for, and count our blessings that we are not among the 300,000... and we will continue to strive for non-fear-based precautions, knowing we are making smart decisions to find our way to the other side of this, however and whenever that is defined.
For now, let's just find whatever coping mechanisms work for us, and enjoy this special time of year the best we can... 💖
POEM: Next by Jeffrey Harrison
It wasn't until we got the Christmas tree
into the house and up on the stand
that our daughter discovered a small bird's nest
tucked among its needled branches.
Amazing, that the nest had made it
all the way from Nova Scotia on a truck
mashed together with hundreds of other trees
without being dislodged or crushed.
And now it made the tree feel wilder,
a balsam fir growing in our living room,
as though at any moment a bird might flutter
through the house and return to the nest.
And yet, because we'd brought the tree indoors,
we'd turned the nest into the first ornament.
So we wound the tree with strings of lights,
draped it with strands of red beads,
and added the other ornaments, then dropped
two small brass bells into the nest, like eggs
containing music, and hung a painted goldfinch
from the branch above, as if to keep them warm.
QUOTE: "The thing about Christmas is that it almost doesn't matter what mood you're in or what kind of a year you've had - it's a fresh start." ~ Kelly Clarkson
