It Will Be A Different Christmas This Year

Sunday and the thirty-seventh Covid blog.🎄

It feels today like a battle has been lost, that David didn’t slay Goliath, Harry didn’t defeat Voldemort and the Grinch has finally stolen Christmas.

London and parts of the South East awoke dismally this morning to find themselves placed in ‘Tier Four’ which brings with it, a stark and solemn message: “Stay at home.”

My newsfeed has been full of sadness and anger, much heartbreak and brilliant memes. The thought of not being able to spend time with our family this Christmas seems both unthinkable and unbearable.

One of the loveliest people I know has been waiting to see her beautiful Daughter walk down the aisle and marry the man she loves. Due to this pandemic their wedding has been cancelled not once but twice and now a third time with their ceremony planned for Christmas Eve.
A ceremony, not a reception with hundreds of guests but a declaration of their love, in church with the allowed congregation of fifteen guests. No fanfare, no pomp, a simple service, witnessed by those they love and a return home without celebration. This too, has now been cancelled.

Christmas is regarded as a time for family, it is the time we miss those no longer with us, for it brings with it memories of childhood and our past. For the children in our families it is a time when their memories grow, as we witness the excitement and wonder that this season brings.
The anticipation of waiting for family and friends to arrive and the feeling of sheer joy.

Our hearts are heavy this morning, Christmas means different things to different people. It will be a very different Christmas.

I like so many I will not be able to spend this Christmas with the ones I love, nor watch their faces as they open their gifts.
Tiers could not be a more apt name, I believe there will be many. Writing this blog found me stopping several times, as each realisation seemed to hit me like tiny arrows, each full of sadness and longing.

This year will be ‘The Doorstop Christmas’ as we drop our gifts outside our loved ones homes, this being dependant of course if you are all in the same tier.

I will be able to do this with one of my Daughters but not with my other Daughter as although living in the same county, it is in a lower tier which means I will not see her at all and I feel my heart aching as I write.

My thoughts have been so difficult to describe this morning, I feel there is so much to say and so much of which there is no need to express, as I am sure you will be feeling the same way too.

However, there is a monumental aspect that seems to have been overlooked, the real point of Christmas for without it, it would simply not exist!

Perhaps too, to reflect how lucky we actually are, that we are sad because we do have family that we will miss, that we do have homes to share.

We have plentiful food and we have Christmas gifts for those we love, when in reality, there are so many in our world that do not.

Yes it will be a different Christmas, but it will still be Christmas.

And remember, there is always Zoom.

Blessings and Love,

Joy xxx