A Silent Merry Christmas

Despite the unrelenting challenges that keep coming at us, the hubby, T and I enjoyed a quiet and peaceful Christmas.

T’s excitement was palatable. The last two weeks, we counted down the number of days till Christmas.

“What’s 9 minus 1?” I asked him at one point last week.

“I dunno,” he responded.

“If there were 9 days until Christmas and 1 day has passed, how many days left until Christmas?” I rephrased the question.

“8 days! 8 days until Christmas!” He exclaimed with unbearable excitement.

The trick with teaching kids math, you see, is about putting things into context for them!

Before bedtime on Christmas Eve, T put out a glass of milk, cookies and carrots for Santa.

After he passed out, I took out the gifts Santa (aka the hubby) had bought and meticulously wrapped for T and put them under the tree and wrote a note of thanks to T from Santa.

Childhood is so short and T will one day outgrow Santa, so might as well have fun while we can.

T gave us the best Christmas present by letting us sleep in till 9. Then he charged into the room and said, “Time to wake up. It’s Christmas!”

We put on our Santa hats, took a few family photos and then opened gifts.

T got a whack of gifts from his parents, grandparents, family members and our friends who either mailed or dropped them curbside.

We’re so blessed with an amazing support group of family and friends. Since learning about my Ma’s stroke, friends and cousins have dropped off lasagna, fried chicken and other care packages.

They all understand that time is even more of the essence and gifted us time for the coming weeks.

“What do you think the chances are of someone dropping off a cooked turkey?” I asked the hubby jokingly.

Ma and my aunt each gave T a red envelope, a Chinese tradition of putting money into a lucky red envelope.

Ma is always the first to admit she doesn’t know how to buy gifts, so she gives money to help invest in his future education instead.

I will admit I felt a bit embarrassed and a tad appalled at how many gifts T got. It probably was more than I ever got in total as a child.

I strongly believe in trying not to spoil a child, because they will grow up not appreciating things. But then I let that feeling go this year and I allowed the hubby to go over the top with Christmas, because of how shitty of a year it’s been.

The hubby and I don’t usually exchange gifts but this year we did, again cuz, you know, pandemic.

I asked for Junji Ito’s horror graphic novel, Remina. Because nothing gives hope and cheer like a story about a planet-eating planet.

The hubby and T then dropped me off to visit Ma at the hospital. It was so nice to see her.

She is doing so much better but we still have a long recovery ahead. But we are thankful for every day that she gets through.

I got back home in the late afternoon and just relaxed – alternating between quiet time by myself and playing with T and his new toys.

Whoever invented self-flying drones for little kids must’ve really hated their parents. Jokes aside, it’s actually a really cool toy!

We wavered back and forth between having family over for dinner but we ultimately decided to respect lockdown restrictions and kept it to our family, because we didn’t want to risk anyone getting sick.

The hubby prepared a delicious turkey dinner, his specialty.

I’m not usually a wine or alcohol drinker, but a friend gifted us a nice bottle of rosé – and cuz, you know, pandemic.

2020 has tested our family like no other but the holidays remind us that a family endures and perseveres.

I am hanging onto that hope as we look ahead to a brighter new year.

Wherever you are joining T, the hubby and I from, we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!