My guest bedroom currently looks like a Jeff Bezos fever dream, and I’m certain mine isn’t the only one this year.
For context, my family is spread out.
My parents live in Niagara Region. My brother? He lives in Waterloo Region. My sister-in-law, brother-in-law and two young nieces live in Durham Region and my parents-in-law live in Hastings County.
I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but apparently there’s a pandemic going on and region-hopping is strongly discouraged at this point.
So this Christmas, we’re doing things differently. While my mother was clearly displeased at the suggestion when I made it to her back in early November, she has since come around, and my family and families-in-law have all either ordered gifts to be sent directly to each other’s houses, or have shipped gifts between houses.
We intend to have a virtual Christmas morning where we all gather at our own trees and open the previously-shipped gifts together via video chat.
My husband and I have two cats that are curious, so we can’t place Christmas gifts under our tree until Christmas Eve. Until then, the gifts are holding a meeting on our guestroom bed. Most of them came from Amazon. I imagine they look down their noses at the gifts that came from other retailers or were – *gasp* – homemade.
I feel like one unexpected thing that has come out of COVID is everyone has had significant experiences with Canada Post, UPS and Purolator, and can easily distinguish the difference in quality between the three parcel delivery services. I’m sure everyone has an opinion on which is their favourite.
I miss my family very much. My husband and I have each seen our families one time since March, over the summer when COVID-19 cases were low and social bubbles were still a thing.
At the same time, my husband and I don’t work jobs where we get an abundance of days off over the holidays, just the obligatory three statutory ones. While mine typically fall on the actual days, my husband still works in print news which means his days off are different than mine. So travelling to see family over the holidays, while wonderful, can typically be tiring for us.
This year we have four days off together – IN A ROW – to enjoy a Christmas in our own home, where we can both drink spiked eggnog because we don’t have to drive anywhere.
I can already hear the comments on this column.
“How dare you buy from Amazon and not LOCAL businesses.”
“At least you still have a job.”
“You’re lucky your family can afford to send each other Christmas gifts this year.”
I am lucky.
Last year, I wrote a column about having a birthday that is very close to Christmas.
When family members asked for a list of things I wanted for Christmas, I had a few small ideas but in the grand scheme of things, I didn’t need for much. That made me feel very lucky, knowing many people are really not OK right now.
So for my birthday, I asked my family members to donate to one of my favourite charities in lieu of gifts, to which they obliged. I highly recommend it, this year especially.
Listen, folks. Everyone is out here doing the best they can during these unprecedented times. I’m hoping one of the things we can leave behind in 2020 is harsh judgments.
And in regards to the holiday season, I think it can be easy to focus on the things we can’t have this year, like family gatherings or Christmas parties. My advice is, focus on and be grateful for the things you do have, because you never know when something – like a world-wide pandemic, for instance – could take them away.
