It sort of goes without saying that this will be a different kind of Christmas.

“Normally” what we do every year is pretty much the same. Christmas Day is at Rick’s parents’ house, New Year’s Eve and Day is at our house, in between we get together with my siblings and their families. Plus there are three birthdays in between Christmas and New Year’s, one of which is celebrated with Chinese food, a nice change from the turkey and chocolate overload. It can be pretty busy and leaves me sometimes wishing for just a little bit of time to work on a dang jigsaw puzzle and watch some Mr. Bean.

Sometimes you HAVE to be careful what you wish for.

The temptation this year might be to treat Christmas Day like just any old day. Because if we can’t have Christmas the way we want, if it’s not going to be the way Christmas “normally” is, well then: forget it. Maybe I’ll just open up a bag of turkey-and-mashed-potato-flavored potato chips and scroll through “The Best/Worst 2020 Pandemic Memes” on Buzzfeed.

Nope, not gonna do it. I am determined to keep Christmas in my heart like Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge vows in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

And anyways, is there really such a thing as a “normal” Christmas? Things just keep changing from one year to the next. Fake Christmas trees get more real looking than real ones. Abnormal frosts wipe out entire mandarin orange crops. A freak storm on Christmas Eve leaves somebody stranded in a motel in Vegreville. Someone usually has the flu, or everyone, like last year in our family.

One year, after saying goodbye to our mother ten days before Christmas, we all retreated to our respective corners and agreed to celebrate Christmas together in January. One year, we watched Rick’s parents’ shop burn down on Christmas Eve, our spirits dampening as the firemen extinguished the flames. One year, we spent too much time in the hospital and Christmas really didn’t feel that merry.

Some years we coupled the joy of a new baby with the fatigue to barely enjoy Christmas. Years later, we welcomed those babies’ girlfriends as happy new additions to the crowded table.

Oh sure, we usually eat the same things (unless there is a mandarin orange shortage) and play games and open presents, as usual. But one of the traditions of Christmas is to take the time to notice the changes and the speed of life and hold your breath for a moment, before the moment of Christmas passes.

As Scrooge said to his nephew before his fated ghostly visits, “Keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine!” It really is up to you how you will keep your Christmas this year, but don’t forget to watch. It won’t be the same next year.