This year's holidays might still be a bit subdued compared to pre-pandemic celebrations, but things are looking a little livelier compared to where we were last year at this time.
John and I are the outliers in the family, living 170+ miles from the Lesinski/Lussier relatives we'd normally be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with - so, needless to say, our holidays were relatively quiet in 2020, with Zoom being the saving grace that allowed us to share toasts and messages of cheer.
We relied on the U.S. postal system to deliver gifts to the Lussier side of the family. As for my nieces and nephews, the annual Polish Christmas Eve (Wigilia) gathering was replaced by a brief pre-Christmas "trunk-to-trunk" gift exchange in an empty parking lot in Brattleboro - an equal distance from our house to my niece Joanna's. Transaction completed, Joanna delivered our gifts to the rest of the family in Connecticut, and we came home with an abundance of tasty treats from all of them.
In retrospect, the situation wasn't ideal, but we certainly won't ever forget it!
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| One picture captured the reality of Christmas 2020: a brief, masked gift swap in an abandoned parking lot..... |
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| ...but the gifts were still great! |
Traditional December events in our town of Randolph were scaled down or omitted last year: the church bazaars with their cafeteria lunches, home-baked goods and locally made crafts; the children's marionette show at Chandler Music Hall; the annual Randolph Singers Christmas concert (a tradition of over four decades).
It was strange to think that no one would be setting foot in our house throughout the season, not even our usual New Year's Eve skier house guests. Since we were to have no visitors, there was no need to do any extra baking for the holidays.....but.....my ethnic genes kicked in just a few days before Christmas Eve and I found myself craving some good old Polish babka. I dusted off an old recipe, but was disappointed to find that, like with so many other products, there was no yeast to be found on the local store shelves. I made do with a different recipe - maybe not the same as Mom's babka, but good enough, considering the strangeness of the season.
One thing that I was absolutely not going to skip was that all-important Christmas tree. Who cared that we'd be the only ones to see it?
So, just like we've done for so many years, we took the annual over-the-river-and-through-the-woods journey to the far hills of Brookfield to Stowell & Son Christmas tree farm. That evening, just like every other year, I contentedly decorated our tree with one or another Christmas TV special on in the background (that's when John usually retreats into the other room to watch something else...). A bit of normalcy!
Perhaps reflective of the general mood in 2020, Christmas Day itself dawned rainy, foggy, and unseasonably warm - not quite the iconic Vermont image of playing in the snow and coming in for a warm drink by the fire. I'm not even sure that we could see beyond the fog out the window as the two of us ate our Christmas meal.
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| The view from our front porch, December 24, 2020 |
Whatever white cover we had on December 24 was washed away in just one day.
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| The same view, December 26, 2020 |
As for New Year's Eve, the celebration was limited to an 8 PM Zoom call with the friends and neighbors that would normally be congregating at our house to ring in the new year.
Sigh.
Fingers crossed, this year will be just a little bit better!
(Note: I wrote most of this before hearing about the latest Omicron variant, but let's just try to stay optimistic)
Despite our recent booster shots, we're still being cautious this year. Happy to say that the gift giving with my family won't be confined to an abandoned parking lot. While I still won't have my entire family (8 adults, 5 kids, 6 dogs) up for Wigilia dinner the weekend before Christmas as in the past, we will be able to visit them for pizza and a gift exchange in Connecticut, perhaps the start of a new tradition.
In Randolph, the church bazaars will resume at some level, and the marionette show at Chandler Music Hall took place last weekend. The Randolph Singers re-convened this fall, rehearsing for a concert on December 12. The group's size is diminished from the usual 40 or so voices down to 20 (the thought of rehearsing indoors, socially distanced and masked up understandably kept many away) but the enthusiasm hasn't diminished and the show will go on!
The store shelves have plenty of yeast and I'll bake babka for home and to give as gifts, but this year I'll also be able to stock up on Polish favorites like pierogi and kielbasa from Broad Street in New Britain during our trip to Connecticut.
This Friday, John and I will drive out to Stowell & Son to pick out a tree (no shortages there). As every year, I'll decorate and John will retreat to the other room.
The difference will be that we won't be the only ones to see it, and soon we'll be welcoming in the new year as we have for so many years - with dear friends, in person!
Wishing you a healthy and peaceful Christmas and holiday season!
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| Last year's Christmas tree - no one saw it |
