I don’t know about you, but I’m still processing the impact of Covid on the holidays. Most likely, you celebrated Thanksgiving in an unconventional manner. With Christmas right around the corner, it kinda feels like a double whammy of restrictions from friends and family. I’ve read a few things lately that have really helped me with perspective and wanted to share them with you. While we have very little control over Covid, a change in perspective may make all the difference in how you view the holidays. I know it did for me.
The following quote has always been a favorite of mine, and what I often reference when the type-A side of me rears its head (ok I only have one side and it is type-A)
The key to happiness is letting each situation be what it is, instead of what you think it should be.
Control freaks rejoice!! (Or become very uncomfortable). Believe me, I feel ya!
Then I read the following story from Kate Northrup, and it really made me think about how we view our cherished traditions.
One of the gifts of being a child of divorce is that our family holiday traditions were shaken up early.
Since we stopped doing “what we’d always done” when I was 15, I feel like I’ve had permission for the last 22 years of my life to re-invent with every holiday season.
One year we went out for Thanksgiving dinner in ball gowns.
The year Mike and I got married we spent Christmas Eve, just the two of us, at a sweet little French restaurant across the street from our apartment, and I made a Christmas Day feast for two, paleo style. Then we went to the movies.
Some years we’re with family. Some years we’re with friends. Some years we’re with both.
As I write this we’re actually still not 100% clear what we’re doing for either Thanksgiving or Christmas, and I’m really here for the freedom of that.
Every year we do things a little differently and I love it.
Just as the seasons of our lives change, why shouldn’t our holiday traditions evolve as well?
I know a lot of people are finding this holiday season particularly challenging.
Not being able to gather in the ways we always have can certainly feel like a profound loss.
(Though I’m well aware that for some, it’s a relief.)
No matter where in the spectrum you fall this year from grief to relief, I invite us all to take this opportunity to do something differently this holiday season.
Maybe it’s as simple as trying a new recipe.
Maybe it’s as dramatic as completely doing your own thing after 30 years of going home to your parents’ for the holidays.
We are not the same people we were a year ago, so why should we celebrate the same way?
We may not be able to do all the things that make us feel the usual holiday joy, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to experience the holidays in a joyful way. I hope this post is helpful to at least a few of you who are struggling with what feels like a loss of tradition this season. I wish you all joy and happiness—in whatever shape that may take this year.
Hold My Wine, I’ve Got This…
Amy
