Some thoughts about this pandemic Christmas
In this pandemic year, getting together for Christmas was never going to be in the cards. I've accepted that. And, thinking about, I suppose it's not that unusual for our side of the family. There have already been Christmases that we celebrated apart. Heck, I didn't celebrate last Christmas with anyone in my family. So meeting up over Zoom this year isn't really that unusual for our family.
The plan is for Anna and John and their kids to go to my mom's place on Sunday and celebrate Christmas there, with me and Vlad joining in over Zoom. I'm not entirely sure where Grandma Nina fits into all of this. Poor Vlad is going to have to make three trips to pick up the presents I got for everyone else, deliver them to the suburbs, pick up the presents my mom got for him and I and then deliver her presents for me to my place. All so we can unwrap them together over Zoom. Which, once again, isn't entirely unprecedented - three years ago, my mom picked up the presents Vlad and I got for Anna, John and then-less-than-a-year old Nadezhda and take them to their house. It's just that this year involves even more hoop-jumping. And, like I said, there was no way there wouldn't be any hoop-jumping in this pandemic year.
As for doing the gift exchange on December 27... I've written about it before, and I won't belabor the point here, but I don't really have any sentimental attachment to December 24-25 in particular. To me, the decorated trees, the gift exchanges and the dinner will always be associated with New Years Eve first and foremost. I've been fine with doing all of that seven days earlier over the past two decades, and doing it four days earlier wouldn't make any difference.
Which kind of dovetails into the fact that, this year, for the first time ever, I spent Christmas Eve the way I've spent a lot of ordinary Thursdays - doing interviews, going out to the suburbs to get some photos for the article, and then taking a long way back just to take advantage of Pace buses' on-board wi-fi (and check out the new O'Hare Park-n-Ride facility I've been meaning to see for over half a year, but that's a whole other tangent that I may or may not get to in another post). And, honestly... I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Especially since, for a lot of other people I saw, this seemed like a regular day, too. People going home from shifts at restaurants and banks. Families and groups of students walking out of the airport with luggage. And, as I walked back from the 'L' at around 8:00 PM, I saw a lot of Christmas trees in the windows, but I didn't see a lot of people doing all that much in their apartments. Just the glow of the screens.
Some people were definitely celebrating in my apartment building, though. Not all, but some. And I had to wonder if it would've been different on a regular year. Did some people who would've otherwise celebrated with their families stay put? Would some of those apartments have been even noisier with more guests?
I will say that there was one thing I saw on the public transit that was different than on a regular weekday. There were more homeless people on the 'L' than there would usually be at around 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM. I wondered if that's the way it usually was on Christmas Eve, when there aren't a lot of people on the streets and many businesses close early, or if it just was this way because the weather was cold and the homeless people have fewer laces to go than ever, what with churches limiting activities and homeless shelters operating below capacity.
A journalist in me can't help but think that it would be something worth looking into.
I do hope that, by this time next year, we'll be able to get together in person. All of us, from both sides of Nadya and Kira's family. Because, while I have no sentimental attachment to the dates, I do enjoy getting together and celebrating, and just spending time together. Especially during this pandemic year.
The plan is for Anna and John and their kids to go to my mom's place on Sunday and celebrate Christmas there, with me and Vlad joining in over Zoom. I'm not entirely sure where Grandma Nina fits into all of this. Poor Vlad is going to have to make three trips to pick up the presents I got for everyone else, deliver them to the suburbs, pick up the presents my mom got for him and I and then deliver her presents for me to my place. All so we can unwrap them together over Zoom. Which, once again, isn't entirely unprecedented - three years ago, my mom picked up the presents Vlad and I got for Anna, John and then-less-than-a-year old Nadezhda and take them to their house. It's just that this year involves even more hoop-jumping. And, like I said, there was no way there wouldn't be any hoop-jumping in this pandemic year.
As for doing the gift exchange on December 27... I've written about it before, and I won't belabor the point here, but I don't really have any sentimental attachment to December 24-25 in particular. To me, the decorated trees, the gift exchanges and the dinner will always be associated with New Years Eve first and foremost. I've been fine with doing all of that seven days earlier over the past two decades, and doing it four days earlier wouldn't make any difference.
Which kind of dovetails into the fact that, this year, for the first time ever, I spent Christmas Eve the way I've spent a lot of ordinary Thursdays - doing interviews, going out to the suburbs to get some photos for the article, and then taking a long way back just to take advantage of Pace buses' on-board wi-fi (and check out the new O'Hare Park-n-Ride facility I've been meaning to see for over half a year, but that's a whole other tangent that I may or may not get to in another post). And, honestly... I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Especially since, for a lot of other people I saw, this seemed like a regular day, too. People going home from shifts at restaurants and banks. Families and groups of students walking out of the airport with luggage. And, as I walked back from the 'L' at around 8:00 PM, I saw a lot of Christmas trees in the windows, but I didn't see a lot of people doing all that much in their apartments. Just the glow of the screens.
Some people were definitely celebrating in my apartment building, though. Not all, but some. And I had to wonder if it would've been different on a regular year. Did some people who would've otherwise celebrated with their families stay put? Would some of those apartments have been even noisier with more guests?
I will say that there was one thing I saw on the public transit that was different than on a regular weekday. There were more homeless people on the 'L' than there would usually be at around 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM. I wondered if that's the way it usually was on Christmas Eve, when there aren't a lot of people on the streets and many businesses close early, or if it just was this way because the weather was cold and the homeless people have fewer laces to go than ever, what with churches limiting activities and homeless shelters operating below capacity.
A journalist in me can't help but think that it would be something worth looking into.
I do hope that, by this time next year, we'll be able to get together in person. All of us, from both sides of Nadya and Kira's family. Because, while I have no sentimental attachment to the dates, I do enjoy getting together and celebrating, and just spending time together. Especially during this pandemic year.