Quarantine Christmas

As with many things, our Christmas gatherings with extended family looked very different this year. Rather than gather with my family for Christmas Eve dinner and the traditional acting out if the nativity story, we did a masked and socially distanced gathering in my parents’ front yard this afternoon. I haven’t seen my brothers since February and I haven’t seen my sisters since cold weather set in and we couldn’t gather in my parents’ backyard anymore, so it was nice to see at least 40% of their faces and to chat for awhile. We exchanged gifts and while we didn’t read the nativity story right there in the yard, Esther had spearheaded an effort to put together a video that included the reading of the nativity, pictures and videos to accompany the reading, and some musical numbers and gifted it to my parents. One thing I learned just this year is that the tradition of acting out the nativity is one that has been passed down through my mom’s family. When she was small, her extended family (many of whom lived in the same place) gathered together on Christmas Eve and she, her sisters, and her cousins acted out the story. Knowing the history of the tradition helped me understand how important it is to her and the emotional toll paid being required to skip it due to COVID. So kudos to Esther for putting in so much work to make it happen in a non-traditional format.

Our Christmas Eve dinner was a low-key affair with just our little crew and a meal out of the freezer. We have fancy plans for our meals tomorrow, so we decided to do simple this evening. As always, we ended our evening with the religious gifts to our kids. Daniel received a book containing Henry B. Eyring’s published journals, Malia got a card game with words of the prophets, and Nathan and Matthew received their nativity pieces. Nathan actually received his last nativity piece and the Israeli toaster box the set was shipped in. So that’s another shock to my system. In the next year, I’ll have two children who are no longer full-time residents of my house.

Malia was the one who left the milk and cookies for Santa this year. She also left a note for him. I have to admit, I took a peek. In general, I believe in letting my kids have some privacy. I don’t go snooping in their rooms or read things they write unless given permission, but in this case, I couldn’t resist. Don’t judge me. You would have done it too. 😉

 
Even amidst a pandemic, the magic of Christmas is present in our home. Heads filled with excitement and anticipation are leaning towards slumber. Secrets encased in paper and bows wait beneath the tree. Joy has been found in our small gathering. And no matter what is raging in the world outside, the light of the Savior and the joy of celebrating his birth is evident in our lives.