Typically the holiday season is a whirlwind of frenetic activity. Shopping, parties, family gatherings, etc. It can be exhausting, especially for the women of the household who are often the ones hosting. Let’s face it. In many households, the prep falls on the hostess: decorating, cooking, cleaning, entertaining, shopping, wrapping, organizing, changing sheets, cleaning up, going to parties, over-doing it. Did I mention cleaning up?
If perhaps you have one of those huge families and every year it’s a giant get-together, Christmas can be exhausting; Travel, what-to-bring/pack/wear, gifts to drag along or ship, goodies to prep and share. Phew!
Yes, it’s fun! Yes, we wouldn’t trade it for the world! But, sometimes did you ever wish the holidays could be like the Olympics? Celebrated once every four years or so? OK> Call me grinch.
Some years–well let’s be honest–most years, I get my holiday decorations out and I feel like I literally just put them away. Sometimes, I DID just put them away. Is July too late to store holiday decorations? LOL.
Then it’s a plan about who will come home. And where will they stay? Are the beds comfy enough? Do you need to get new linens? New furniture? Should they come home? Are we all going to be safe?
Hilarious SNL video about when your kids tell you they “Can’t make it home this year.”
Courtesy of Saturday Night Live 2020
And then there’s the challenge of what to gift our families–when it seems like they have everything (and so do we!). Another new robe anyone?
So then came Holiday 2020. Everything was toned down (well except for the outside decorations on everyone’s house! Dang! Well done, neighbors!!)
I think maybe 2020 was the year that may have put some new perspective into the holiday celebration craziness. Talking with friends, I’ve heard differing opinions on this. Some shed tears when traditional get-togethers were cancelled. Others enjoyed the opportunity for a quiet Christmas at home (for once) with just a small group of immediate family.
For me, it was the break I’d been (a little bit … secretly) wondering about (Be careful what you wish for, right?) from the holiday entertaining and hosting whirlwind. (See that suggestion above for Christmas every four years, like the Olympics?)
In my defense, the gathering has been at my house for the past 30 plus years, but everyone (EVERYONE) loves the traditions we’ve created, the fun we have and the chance to be together, so who am I to say, “Enough.”
In 2020, I got my break. It was a lot easier, that’s for sure.
Everyone stayed in their own homes and not with me (Is it time to sell the big house and downsize? New linens be damned!). Other people cooked while I sat on the couch. (Yes, that happened in 2020!). The gift-giving leaned in to charities for people in more need than us.
But sadly I did miss the traditions we created. However, the COVID 2020 holiday pause set the stage for more fun in 2021, with the addition of a new grand baby in the mix.
Twenty-21 saw the arrival of long-distance family who first isolated after their travels and then stayed for an extended period of time, allowing for some really great connection time (and rests from those travels). Everybody works from home now, so what the heck. They just kept working, but did it from their “other” home (mine!) which enabled the extended stay.
In 2021, I decided to make up for 2020 by getting the largest tree I’d ever had. I used every Christmas decoration in the attic and took the opportunity to toss everything that didn’t get used (a head start to organizing for 2022!). I had my tree up from Thanksgiving thru New Year’s and it seemed like a second, not six weeks. Normally, I just have it up for about 2 weeks. The 2020 pause, gave real joy and delight to 2021, so for that I’m deeply thankful. And yet, we maintained a lot of the quiet of 2020, in 2021, too, so for that I was thankful as well.
However your holidays turned out in 2020 or 2021, either you will much more appreciate the return to “normal” in the future, or you will have some new traditions with a little less craziness going forward. Either way, I am trying to be optimistic about silver linings in time of COVID. Thankfully, my immediate family has been spared enormous pain and suffering from COVID, although I know of others who weren’t so fortunate and my heart does go out to them.
And, yes, I still got stuck with the clean up, but after all that six weeks of frenetic activity, it was a chance to meditate, organize and breathe again. Here’s to cleaning up the holidays: Next up getting organized in 2022!
