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I love Christmas - or I used to. It's not the gifts or the 'magic' or even the fact that it's summer holidays.
It was the chance (excuse) to spend time with extended family that Christmas provided - the knowledge that, well, we're kind of busy the rest of the year, but we always meet for Christmas!
Except we haven't really the last three years. COVID has seriously interrupted our Christmas, and once it did, it feels like the cousins are here, there, and everywhere. The stepbrothers and their wives - well, A&A are in the Netherlands and staying there, and J&J are presently in Sydney, but J&A's mum is very demanding about them spending Christmas Day with her (it's a power-play thing she does; divorced 18 years, remarried for at least a dozen, and she's still bitter), and SIL J's family is close and extended, and they do Christmas Eve (German father), so we usually do Boxing Day with them.
But a few times in the last few years, Christmas Day has been nothing more than the parentals, B1, B2, and me. Part of this is because last year the uncle who was hosting Christmas Day was a close-contact, and in 2020 people were being encouraged not to meet in great numbers, so we were responsible and didn't do a big party. But even before that, there were a few days where Christmas Day was just us, and Boxing Day was the big day.
Anyway, if we're not going to have a family Christmas this year (beyond the parentals and the Bs and me, which is really just a regular family meal) then I was thinking I might volunteer to help out at a 'soup kitchen' or equivalent on Christmas Day.
Of course, right now, the case numbers are rising - at least so far as we can tell; it's rather difficult since our conservative state government stopped publishing numbers, stopped mandating masks for anywhere, and reduced COVID isolation periods. But the Chief Health Officer of NSW, a woman who's been in the position since at least the start of the pandemic, thinks that the cases are going to rise, and she's been an absolute rock, even if the state leader hasn't been taking her advice (he's ultra-conservative: basically, he only got his vaccination so he could ascend to be state leader - his party wouldn't let him otherwise: anti-vaccination is not a 'standard' right-wing thing over here). But, yeah, Ms Chant says it's gonna happen and I trust her more than most. (She's not an elected official.)
I wish the local food pantry/community assistance group did Christmas Day events for the homeless/indigent of the area. I don't think they do, mostly because it's primarily volunteers, and the volunteers are all people with families who can do Christmas. But I'll ask and see what their plans are, and if they have any. If they do have something on Christmas Day, if the Big Rello Bash isn't on this year, I might go help. (And even if the Big Rello Bash *is* on this year, I might see if they can do with help.)
It was the chance (excuse) to spend time with extended family that Christmas provided - the knowledge that, well, we're kind of busy the rest of the year, but we always meet for Christmas!
Except we haven't really the last three years. COVID has seriously interrupted our Christmas, and once it did, it feels like the cousins are here, there, and everywhere. The stepbrothers and their wives - well, A&A are in the Netherlands and staying there, and J&J are presently in Sydney, but J&A's mum is very demanding about them spending Christmas Day with her (it's a power-play thing she does; divorced 18 years, remarried for at least a dozen, and she's still bitter), and SIL J's family is close and extended, and they do Christmas Eve (German father), so we usually do Boxing Day with them.
But a few times in the last few years, Christmas Day has been nothing more than the parentals, B1, B2, and me. Part of this is because last year the uncle who was hosting Christmas Day was a close-contact, and in 2020 people were being encouraged not to meet in great numbers, so we were responsible and didn't do a big party. But even before that, there were a few days where Christmas Day was just us, and Boxing Day was the big day.
Anyway, if we're not going to have a family Christmas this year (beyond the parentals and the Bs and me, which is really just a regular family meal) then I was thinking I might volunteer to help out at a 'soup kitchen' or equivalent on Christmas Day.
Of course, right now, the case numbers are rising - at least so far as we can tell; it's rather difficult since our conservative state government stopped publishing numbers, stopped mandating masks for anywhere, and reduced COVID isolation periods. But the Chief Health Officer of NSW, a woman who's been in the position since at least the start of the pandemic, thinks that the cases are going to rise, and she's been an absolute rock, even if the state leader hasn't been taking her advice (he's ultra-conservative: basically, he only got his vaccination so he could ascend to be state leader - his party wouldn't let him otherwise: anti-vaccination is not a 'standard' right-wing thing over here). But, yeah, Ms Chant says it's gonna happen and I trust her more than most. (She's not an elected official.)
I wish the local food pantry/community assistance group did Christmas Day events for the homeless/indigent of the area. I don't think they do, mostly because it's primarily volunteers, and the volunteers are all people with families who can do Christmas. But I'll ask and see what their plans are, and if they have any. If they do have something on Christmas Day, if the Big Rello Bash isn't on this year, I might go help. (And even if the Big Rello Bash *is* on this year, I might see if they can do with help.)
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Here there are always Christmas dinners served to the homeless in the shelters. I hope that you can find a place to do that.
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I guess I feel like my area would have a low proportion of people who aren't spending Christmas with family/friends, and so they'd need more helping hands. On the other side of it, though, there'd be fewer people who'd want to do a Christmas Day meal for the local indigents, so it may not even exist? I'll call up the local shelters today and see if they have anything planned.
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I was nodding my head until I got to that last bit, LOL :D That always breaks my brain, the concept of Christmas being summer holidays!
Christmas was always a big holiday for me as well - and for a similar reason. We didn't have extended family, but even after the eldest kids had moved out for school or life - for a lot of years, we all managed to get back home for Christmas. Then after my mom died, we made a point of all getting together for Christmas that year at my brother's place in Toronto.
And that was the last time we did a family Christmas - that was in 2009.
I still love Christmas - I love the lights and the music and the food - and I'm lucky that I have friends who opened their home to me for Christmas and made sure that I had a place to be on the holiday. It's different for sure - but it's still a holiday that makes me happy.
I think it's normal for things to change over time - and COVID definitely broke a lot of traditions - and some of them won't go back to the way they were. It's good for you to figure out what you want your holiday to look like.
Are there churches in the area who do holiday meals? Even if you are not part of the church, they might still appreciate some extra hands?
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I do enjoy all the trimmings of Christmas, but the reason I really loved Christmas was because of the gatherings - families, friends, workplaces...but particularly the family days. And there's fewer of those these days.
Last year, we really only found ourselves without anything to do on Christmas Day because our Christmas Day celebrations got cancelled due to COVID. So...IDK. It's going to become more complicated as the years go on, because my mother loves hosting and has a house for it, and I love hosting but I don't have a house for it.
There might be churches. I'm pretty sure mine doesn't, it's a middle-class family-ish church which would be most likely to have people with family Christmases to go to, but I will ask around.
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Me, I really enjoy the food and the family, I like the trimmings/decorations, but the gifts aren't necessary for me unless they're really specific/thoughtful, and even then I'm in a stage where I am very much acknowledging that I Don't Need MOAR STUFF. The house is already Not Large Enough and adding more stuff just makes it smaller and I'm very aware that we inherited The Hoarding Gene from both grandmothers, but also my sister needs her stuff to be Visible - out of sight, out of mind, as they say. But it just means we have a whole heap of stuff that's in sight but never actually used...
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