Remember last year, when (in Ontario at least) we couldn’t have Christmas with our families? Many of us made the very difficult decision to follow the shelter in place quarantine orders and just stay home. To not visit our parents and siblings. I dunno, maybe it was easy for some. We didn’t go to the traditional feast of 13 Fishes on Christmas eve. We didn’t have brunch with my sister in law and her family on Christmas Day. We didn’t have Christmas dinner with my parents and aunts and cousins. We had a quiet day, in our own corners of the house. It wasn’t awful, but that might have been because it was supposed to be a one-off thing, not the new tradition.

At the end of last week, the Premier of Ontario started shutting things down again because of the Omicron variant of Covid. And maybe we should consider what circuit breaker actions we can all take. Like maybe not going into packed grocery stores or the mall. Like maybe not having the festivities many of us have already planned. Like not having more than 10 people inside, or 25 outside. Because there are *all kinds* of outdoor Christmas dinners in Ontario in the below-zero weather. *sigh*

I don’t know what the expected attendance numbers are at any of the events I am supposed to go to, because I’m not hosting any of them. We come in around 10, maybe 8, maybe 11 or 13. I know that a few of my cousins will decline the invitations to avoid the risk. I know that But 10 mostly-different people at different events over a bunch of days. That feels like it’s not strictly following the spirit of the messaging our Premier shared.

And I know that even people who are double vaccinated, some that are even boosted, are getting tired of doing the things they’re supposed to and then watching the numbers climb on the evening news. And the people who don’t believe the vaccinations are helpful point to the fact that even when there’s 80+ percent vaccination saturation, there are still 4000+ people being diagnosed every day.

It makes me want to not leave my house for months, and it makes me want to see my family more, all at once. For the first time in many years, I was looking forward to the holidays. And now, the anxiety that’s usually there for a myriad of reasons gets replaced by the Covid Particle theory.

So yeah, maybe this year, again, holidays aren’t going to be what we wanted them to be. But in the interests of trying to look at things from a different perspective, I’ve found a few “not what I was expecting, but still pretty great” videos to perhaps inspire us as we oversteer our way through the week into Christmas.

I give you: The Sugar Drum Fairies

And BIG: Color Dribble Bells.

And Neblett Elementary School – Nutcracker Basketball

I hope that whatever your holidays look like, you feel some of the blessings of the season. Have a good week, friends. Be safe.