Last year, Diane let me know that real Christmas trees are hard on her allergies, so I bought her an artificial tree as her big Christmas gift. David and I put it up this year and loved how easy it was to assemble. No trying to make it stand up straight and tying it to a wall to keep it from falling over. No futilely trying to keep it watered to prevent it from drying out too quickly. And it already has lights on it right out of the box.
We've lost the romance of going to our favorite tree farm and cutting down our own, but I did still bring in real greenery for the holiday. We always get a real wreath for the front door, so this year at the nursery I also picked up some garland: white pine like our Christmas trees used to be. I hung it on the railings going up to our front porch and also the railing on the inside stairs. It wasn't as full and lush as I imagined, but it's pretty in a humble sort of way. Bob Cratchit would like it.
We always get together with my side of the family a few times during the season. I help my Mom make one of my favorite holiday treats, a fruit-filled pastry that I and some other out-of-town family and friends can't celebrate without. We make them, I take some home, and she ships the rest around the country.
Then there's our annual trip to the very small town of Kellogg, Minnesota where we have lunch at the same diner every year before going to Lark Toys, a magical independent toy store that has individual rooms for various kinds of toys, but also books and games. There's a huge collection of vintage toys to look at. There's also a soda counter/grill, a fudge shop, a candy store, and an indoor carousel with beautiful, hand-carved wooden animals to ride.
Finally, my brother and his wife traditionally host Christmas Eve dinner, though this year their schedule prevented it being on Christmas Eve. That worked well for Diane, David, and I though.
For most of our married life, Christmas Eve has been a time to get together with Diane's side of the family. There was a traditional meal and lots of caroling accompanied by Diane's mom on the piano. After Diane's folks died, we continued the tradition at her brother's place (without the piano accompaniment), but he and her other siblings have gradually moved to other towns and cities, so now it's a chaotically fun Zoom call.
Christmas Day was also very relaxed. We slept in and opened gifts around 10:00. Then we didn't have anything else scheduled until dinner time, so we leisurely cleaned up and spent the rest of the day reading and/or napping. My big gift for the year was an iPad. I resisted it for years, because I didn't think I needed it, but my little Kindle wasn't cutting it for reading digital comics, so I finally asked Santa for a larger screen and spent the afternoon catching up with Wonder Woman.
My sister and her family came over for an informal Christmas dinner (our oven broke a couple of days ago, but Santa brought us an air fryer that saved the meal). Then we relaxed some more until about 10:00 pm when Diane went to bed and David and I went to a late show of Robert Eggers' Nosferatu.
