Items

• 2021-01-06

  A Christmas Durring the COVID-19 Pandemic

  The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything for all of us. Christmas Vacation was especially different for me and my family this year. I'll start by describing our normal Christmas Vacation. The first week after we are out of school, my family and I normally head up to Mammoth Lakes CA to snownoard and ski. We go up there for about one week to geet us in the Christmas mood. We always stay at our Aunt's place in the village. It's really fun to go exploring and finding a bunch of new things. Once we come back from Mammoth we pick up our christmas tree from a lot in Thousand Oaks CA called Christmas Ranch Tree Farm. When we get home we decorate the tree while watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. The next day is Christmas Eve. On that day we decorate and bake cookies. That night we read the story of Jesus' birth and T'was the Night Before Christmas. Our Grandma also comes over almost every Christmas Eve. On Christmas day we wakeup at seven, open our stockings and presents while my mom records it all on a device. After the opening of the presents we eat cinamon rolls. The rest of the day we hang out with out friends/neighbors looking at our new stuff. After that we head over to a big parter over at our Aun't house with all our extended family. That is our normal Christmas. This year however we didn't go to Mammoth. So we had nothing to do for the first week. I ended up doing a ton of mountain biking. On Christmas Eve we baked and decorated cookies like normal bu tour Grandma didn't come over so it felt odly emty. On Christmas day everything was normal the first part of the day (other than our Grandma not being there). However, we had no party later in the day so the whole Christmas was just our household which make it feel vary lonely. This Christmas was very different than the last few years.
• 2021-01-06T12:49

  A Covid Christmas

  This Christmas was unlike any other. I woke up on Christmas Day knowing that I wasn't going to be able to see my family because of the current regulations in my city. It was sad because we have many traditions we partake in each year. On Christmas Eve, me and my family, including my grandma, aunts and uncles, and cousins, usually eat a delicious seafood feast, made up with crab, oysters, clams and linguini, shrimp, and other seafoods. It is a tradition that we have held up for many years, and it pained me that it didn't happen this Christmas. On Christmas Eve, my family also exchanges presents with each other with our extended family, and our living room felt so empty this year without the laughter and joy that my family brings to Christmas. On Christmas Day, we usually have delicious meet-filled ravioli that we make homemade weeks before Christmas. Because of the current circumstances, we were not able to make the ravioli, nor eat it. This is one of my favorite parts about Christmas, and I was devastated that it didn't happen. On Christmas Day night, me and my family usually go to the other side of my family's house to eat delicious food and exchange presents. My grandmother and grandfather on that side of the family have been very strict with COVID and didn't allow us to come over. It hurt me, but I understood because these are very hard times, and I did not want to put them at risk. Christmas is usually my favorite time of the year, joyous and merry and filled with family and cheer. But this year, Christmas was a solemn and lonely time; it was very hard to get through the holidays without my family by my side. This experience has taught me to be more grateful, and I am, I am grateful that my family is alive and healthy. To end this, I would like to say, we always have Christmas next year, and the next year, and the next year, etc. We need to keep our heads held high during these tough times.