I’ve left this post until the last minute today. I try not to leave it this late, but this week I just couldn’t seem to pull anything together. Knowing this was my last post before Christmas and my second last post of the year, I felt I lacked the words to provide any help or hope. Truthfully, I have been up and down this week on my acceptance of how things are this holiday season. I swing from being comforted with a small Christmas that will allow for time to reflect on the year, and then realize all the firsts this season will bring for my friends and family and it feels impossible. Like everyone, we have disappointments and distance between us and our loved ones and as the day draws closer, it takes more intention and practice to focus on the right things.
I have a mantra that has lead me forward in these last few days; ‘you will find what you’re looking for.’ If you want to find sadness and despair, there is no shortage. If you want to find beauty and things to be grateful for, those things are all around you too. They may not be as obvious or big or loud, but they are there, waiting to be discovered. It comes back to actively practicing gratitude, each and every day. It comes back to the habits we work on in order to get us through times like these. If you are still and silent, you can see past what we don’t have and realize what we do.
And what we DO have right now, is hope. Hope for the future, hope for 2021, hope for the vaccine, hope for easing restrictions, hope for numbers trending in the right direction. Look how far we have come and how much we have endured. There have been times and messages suggesting all hope has been lost. There have been grim milestones none of us wanted to reach. But even on those darkest days, hope remained. Good news stories surfaced and humanity proved its spirit was strong.
Yes, Christmas looks different this year. It feels wrong because it is. It’s not what we are used to or what we are wired for. But isn’t that the theme of this year? Doing things differently. Doing things we have never done before, had never considered, or would never have believed this time last year. We can do Christmas differently because we have just proven to ourselves for the past 10+ months that we are pros at this. It may not be what we want or prefer, but it IS an act of love and kindness. Our small gatherings to end off this year are our gift to each other, all over the world. To protect one another and care for one another. In a year when we have gone from ‘in this together’ to ‘more divided than ever’, our final send-off to 2020 and all of its lessons is to graduate with the highest marks knowing we passed these tests for the greater good. 2021 will be about taking these lessons with us and applying them to life moving forward.
There are many creative ways to remain close these next few weeks. Take the time to make the phone calls, and book the zoom calls. To hear voices and see faces, not just read texts or emails. Take the time to check in on people and share your dreams of how much possibility there is in a brand new year.
We have hope. That’s all we need to keep going. Hold on tight to every last ounce of it and have yourself a merry little Christmas.
From my family to yours, it’s a new week ahead. Make it count. – Em
P.S. The words of this 1944 classic bring new meaning in 2020. The Frank Sinatra version is my favourite.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on
Our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yule-tide gay
From now on
Our troubles will be miles away
Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more
Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now
Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more
Through the years
We all will be together
If the fates allow
So hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.