Merry Christmas, family, friends, and fellow cruisers! Every year I tend to reflect on our holiday traditions and 2020 has brought that reflection into focus even more. The holidays can be tough for some people every year and 2020 seems to have made it much harder for many of our friends and family. But let's focus on the positive! What traditions were you able to carry forward into this crazy year? What new ones did you discover?
Admittedly, Christmas 2020 isn't totally different from many of the holidays we've had over the years. When we were still a military family, we were often away from extended family and didn't travel to big gatherings. We've managed to be together, just the four of us, for all but one holiday where I was on the other side of the world with some of the best shipmates a girl could ask for. We had a few holidays near extended family, but for the most part, we keep our celebration small and intimate. So what makes for a traditional Christmas for the crew of Lehe Paine?
- Lights! While we don't carry all of our decorations on the boat these days, we do carry our LED up-and-over lights. I will unapologetically run a generator to power those bad boys!
- Stockings! We have had the same set of stockings since the kids were babies and they are hung on our cabin doors every holiday season.
- Getting away! We prefer to celebrate "on the hook" or "on the ball," surrounded by water and nice views. Some years weather kept us at the dock. Last year we were at a dock in Bahamas celebrating and laughing with new friends.
- Christmas Eve festivities! We like to plan a dinner (usually some variant of Asian cuisine), watch movies, bake or decorate cookies, and the kids exchange their gifts from one another. We used to give them pj's that night, too, but...teenagers! Red wine...that's also part of my Christmas prep tradition!
- Christmas morning...gifts! This is when we have opened gifts from the extended family, Santa, and mom & dad. As the kids have gotten older and we've gotten more minimalist, there isn't a huge pile of presents, but everyone seems great with it.
- Food! If I've properly provisioned there will be easy, canned cinnamon rolls for breakfast! As the craziness winds down mimosas are served, gifts are stowed, and I prep whatever is needed for some sort of feast that afternoon/evening.
- Calls to family! Between cooking and relaxing the day away, we have calls and video calls with friends and family. We were doing this pre-COVID and will surely continue it into the future!
We were able to retain these traditions quite easily this year. But 2020 was hard for me (Jody) for a non-COVID reason. We don't expect to have Katreina with us next year so I was really trying to make all of our traditional things happen. She even let her brother sleep over one last time (she said they are too old for that tradition, but...)! And then she got me...got us matching bracelets to "make bonds" when we are apart. I cried...I cried a lot! It was super sweet and I absolutely love it. Katreina's gift is her trip to France, Trent ended up with a serious paintball gun, Frank's whiskey/Scotch selection was expanded, and I got a really sweet GoPro that I'll have to figure out how to use.
Wishing you all health and happiness into the new year!
No comments:
Post a Comment