Light One for the Weird Year
I stock up on Christmas things like gift bags or Christmas Cards, usually after Christmas. Keep a few things around, just in case, and this year turned into a case of ‘just in case.’ I had a full box of Christmas cards and one half-full one. I bought stamps and began to write out Christmas cards, researching people’s addresses on the internet to get the address right, wanting to give them a little something in the mailbox for this atrocious year. However, my list outstrips my stockpile, and the government gave the okay for people to buy holiday-related stuff, Channukah included, today. It looks like they’re essential good after all.
“Is this an essential item?” quickly turned into the standard question. It turns out the cute Santa hat at Shopper’s Drug Mart is considered a touque, and touques are essential; therefore, I scored a hat. Again weird. Before I even head out of the house, the checklist for unforgotten things now goes like this: cell phone, wallet, keys, and mask. I have a bright-red Under Armour mask looking seasonal as well as functional, bought in anticipation of gym requiring it and hoping I can wear it again when they open.
My packages came by Canada Post, Purolator, UPS, and Fed-Ex. By the way, I don’t know why shippers want to ship their fictional characters like Fed Ex; their customer service is atrocious. On the other hand, if those characters are Poe and Finn or Dean and Castiel, Fed Ex suits how their respective franchises delivered on those ships. That’s for another story in another publication.
Today marks the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, or as I call we’re-almost-there Sunday. After feeling down and cranky, I felt perky. Going on vacation does that, and a vacation from work means sitting down and writing or video chatting with friends rather than a meeting.
A funny thing happened at a Dollarama. I needed gift bags for family gifts, and I passed this necklace with jingle bells. The bells tinkled quietly as I looked at it, shook it to hear more tinkling, and decided to buy it. It will go well with the hat, the slightly-blingy Wonder Woman sweatshirt for a video chat on Tuesday to help a class researching their assignment. December 15th is technically my last day, but I don’t have to worry about getting up to sit here and log into teams tomorrow.
Like I said, weird year.
I made peace with the weirdness, the working from home, the constant video chats, the ever-changing protocols. The idea of a vaccine, the begging of the end to all this, makes me scared. Who fears that? I want to go back to the movies, watch stand-up at Wee Johnnys. I want to get out of town, have wine at the Forks, and go back to the gym. I want my friends in education and health care not to feel like they will drop dead from exhaustion or worry they will take the virus home. I asked for no gifts this year; I had nothing I wanted, and the things I do want can’t fit in a gift box.
While writing my Christmas cards, I would end not with ‘all the best in (year)’ or ‘And a Happy New Year.’ I started to use ‘Onward to 2021.’ What I want for Christmas is for this year to be over and I can start again.
