Different Doesn’t Mean Worse. It Just Means Different.
Lighting ceremonies cancelled, panto season called off, the markets all closed, “please keep two metres away from Santa at all times”. It’s going to be odd hearing the sound of Paul McCartney singing ‘simply having a wonderful Christmas time’ echo around supermarkets with empty shelves, everything but essential goods roped off. Yes, Christmas 2020 is shaping up to be bleaker than a rainy night in Ebenezer Scrooge’s counting house.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. “Lockdown 2.0” has given me time to reflect – a little like the Whos down in Whoville when that hairy green chap swiped all their presents – on what Christmas really means when you have a little one.
First of all, my daughter Saffy is still so young that expensive experiences would be lost on her anyway. We learned this the hard way when we forked out nearly 30 quid for a family trip to a petting farm, only to have Saffy spend most of her time chasing me round the paddock trying to poke me with a twig. She loved it, but it would have been just as much fun doing it in the back garden.
Also, Saffy wouldn’t sit still long enough for a pantomime and, to an eighteen-month-old, Santa is just a terrifying red monster. If that wasn’t bad enough, she’s a vegetarian, so it’s tofurkey all the way.
So, instead of all shelling out for Covid-safe Christmas activities, we will take the festivities back to their roots. Whether we are in or out of lockdown when the 25th rolls around, we will celebrate what we can do together, not mourn what we cannot. Here are some ideas:
Count our blessings
Counting your blessings is very cheap and can be done both with and without a large group of people. Fortunately, we have a lot for which we can be thankful. We have a loving and supportive family, a roof over our heads, neither my wife nor I were made redundant, sadly like so many this year, and (touch wood) we are so far unaffected by the virus. Also, Saffy is developing almost daily – she is now fascinated with the world around her; intensely studying her picture books and exploring nature with a wide-eyed enthusiasm that makes her a shoe-in for the next host of Our Planet once Attenborough snuffs it.
Be outside
With indoor experiences now out of the question and all gatherings suspended, we will wrap up warm, fill a thermos with cocoa and venture out to see what festive displays we can spot. From robins on holly bushes and village centre Christmas trees, to houses covered in twinkly lights. If it snows, we will build snowmen. If it rains, we’ll put on our waterproofs and splash in puddles. If it’s windy, we’ll strap a bit of tinsel to the tail of a kite and get on with it!
Get creative
Paper chains, popcorn garlands, biscuit baking and snowflake decorations to hang on the tree. Saffy can also make potato prints and can hold a crayon – so that’s this year’s Christmas cards sorted.
A visit from Father Christmas
As mentioned, a visit from the big man himself can go very wrong when you’ve got a little one. With Christmas markets closed, one jobbing Santa recently advertised his services on our local Facebook page; offering to visit your house and “watch your child open their presents through the window” for £15. A proposal which I suspect will feel less magical and more like a re-enactment of 1972’s Tales from the Crypt, in which Joan Collins is hounded by a murderously insane Father Christmas who keeps peeping through her louvre window shutters.
For a less creepy alternative, the Trafford Centre is currently offering a Covid-secure grotto. However, if, like me, you don’t want your child’s first interaction with Jolly Old Saint Nick to be a muffled “Ho Ho Ho” from behind a face mask, why not buy yourself a Santa costume and do it yourself?
There’s going to be loads left over now all the annual Santa Dashes have been called off. Don the red suit, bring some grotto magic into your living room and start knocking back the sherry. The real ones only give out gifts from Poundland anyway.
Christmas music, food and movies!
This will be a year of introductions to the classics. The best part of Halloween was watching Saffy do endless wobbly spins to the Monster Mash and I can’t wait to see her dance interpretations of ‘Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree’ and other classics. Saffy will try (and no doubt spit out) her first mince pies and Christmas pudding and a long list of Christmas cinema classics awaits her: Muppets Christmas Carol, The Grinch, Jingle All the Way and Arthur Christmas. All no doubt shown to her at 6:30 in the morning while I drink advocaat and wait for nursery to re-open.
Spend time with family
The biggest hole to fill this year will be the one left by family and friends. For the moment, we will be allowed to visit my parents as they form part of Saffy’s care bubble. My wife is Jewish so there will be no hard choices as to where we will spend Christmas Day. But this is the first year Saffy’s Great Grandma will spend Christmas without us as she recently moved into care,and for safety reasons will not be allowed to join us or receive visitors over the festive period. We will visit and wave through the window, exchange our Christmas greetings in the best way we can, and see her properly as soon as possible. But there’s no getting away from the fact that this will be the biggest and saddest change to our Christmas traditions.
And so, whatever Christmas means to you, things will be different this year. But different doesn’t mean worse. It just means different. I will leave you with the words of Judy Garland,
“Through the years we all will be together,
If the fates allow…
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.
So have yourself a merry little Christmas
A merry little Christmas now.”
Could not agree more. A lot of people are experiencing tragedy this time off year. I think been thankful for what we already have is important.
totally agree