Page 63 - FDCC Pandemic Book

Living in a Pandemic: A Collection of Stories on Coping, Resilience & Hope
We had previously arranged for all of our Christmas presents to be sent to California, so the fact that we were staying home required some extra shopping so that we wouldhavegiftsunderthetreeforoneanother. Weeachjumpedonline,andforthe month of December we had regular Amazon deliveries and enjoyed watching as we each put wrapped gifts under the tree for the other.
We also got excited in planning our Christmas day meal of standing rib roast with champagne and trimmings. I love to cook, but I had not prepared a Christmas dinner in many years. I enjoyed it so much that my kids now know that I will be helping with meals at their homes in future years.
All of us in 2020 became proficient in using the Zoom platform for calls and conferences. Zoom proved to be the connector that allowed us on Christmas morning to be present as our grandchildren awakened and opened their gifts under their Christmas trees in California. Later that day, we again celebrated Christmas cocktails and gatherings with our children and grandchildren via Zoom. It was hard not to be there to hug everyone, but our joy in celebrating the holidays was in no way diminished. (If anything, we took a small amount of pleasure in the fact that we did not have to clean up after the gathering!)
Zoom was not the only technology that helped make Christmas and other holidays joyful. We found that social media played a huge role in our happiness. Because so many of our friends were in the same boat as us, it seemed that everyone shared photos of decorations and appetizers and beverages and meals and desserts. Under ordinary circumstances, all of us would have been too occupied with travel and with family to have time to spend on social media. But this year was different. Facebook was the place to be, and there is no question that our FDCC friends made our solo holiday celebrations way more festive and joyful.
I feel sure that similar stories to our own played out in millions of households around the country this past year. If we learned anything, it was that we can be happy and we can celebrate even when conditions are not ideal. Ann and I will look back fondly at this Christmas as a time when we were able to spoil and celebrate one another and maintain a high level of happiness even while we were separated from our loved ones. I hope that we will keep this memory in mind if and when other times occur in our lives when our plans are disrupted.
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