Are You Going to Celebrate Christmas In 2021?

This year will see the return of my annual Xmas party to decorate my tree. I’ve been doing this for many years, and it’s always enjoyable. It will be about 10 or 11 people, and everyone is vaccinated. Everyone will bring food to share, and I will provide a large cheese board and some drinks. After we decorate the tree, we will exchange gag gifts that everyone is also bringing. Some of the gifts in past years were really hilarious. There was the year someone opened a small package to find wet grass. The person who brought it exclaimed, “Oh no! The ice sculpture of baby Jesus melted!” I’m so glad to be able to have this party again this year after canceling it last year.

Both of my kids will be home for Christmas. We will visit my mother (who turns 98 next week) and go to Mass. And we will have traditional Roast Beef dinner.

My girlfriend invited me to join her and her family for Christams in Princeton, even if I fly the day after. But the airfare is too much for a short trip.

Damn, I want to go to @Hawaii_Jake’s party!

I’ll be celebrating quietly, but I am more open to a few events this year, and I was invited to a small Christmas Eve gathering that I will enjoy going to.

We used to make a big deal out of Christmas when my kids were at home but now they live at a distance and it is not the same. I’ve made up my own little rituals and will open my Christmas treat box in the morning, have a nice breakfast in front of the fire and read. In the afternoon, I am going to dinner at a close friend’s house and will bring a dessert.