Christmas 2020

WHEN I WAS A CHILD - I would spend hours going through the Christmas catalogs and then very carefully drafting my list for Santa in my very neatest handwriting (because neatness counts!) Even when I was "old enough to know better", I still longed for the magic of the season, so the list was still written and in a very stealth manner left on the kitchen table.

CHRISTMAS 2020 - My children draft their Christmas lists in 30 minutes or less, and ask me if they should just text them to me.

WHEN I WAS A CHILD - I don't remember how they would disappear for an entire day, but my parents would most likely travel to the closest small city to take advantage of shopping malls and toy stores, obviously without us in tow, to go Christmas shopping.

CHRISTMAS 2020 - Tonight, Mr. D. and I sat here in our family room, he on his phone and I on my laptop, tap-tap-tapping away on our devices ordering items off of the previously mentioned texted shopping lists, and some additional pieces that they don't even know they wanted until after they open them on Christmas morning. Price comparison between websites with coupon codes and free shipping opportunities have replaced the shopping mall excursions that involve rubbing shoulders in a pandemic society.

WHEN I WAS A CHILD - As a young child, I had no idea how my parents did it. In the most magical of ways, gifts would appear under our Christmas tree from "Santa", in addition to the gifts from our parents. As a pre-teenager, I became more aware of where these gifts really came from, but how she managed to get them wrapped and under the tree in the few hours between when we went to bed and woke up in the early morning hours....oh wait....

CHRISTMAS 2020 - yes, I do know how my mom did it. For the past 20 years, I've spent Christmas Eve wrapping gifts after everyone has gone to bed - most years, not getting to bed until 4:00 in the morning or later.

Some things will never change.

~Candy