A different Christmas season

With about three weeks before Christmas this year is likely going to be a very different holiday season. It will fit in well with the rest of 2020. The majority of the year has been different mainly due to the world dealing with a pandemic.
This may be a year where instead of large boisterous gatherings there will be smaller ones with just immediate families coming together. Where there have been assemblies of 30 to 40 people there could be six or less. In a way it could be a return to how our ancestors celebrated Christmas. Although they had weather to contend with and their main source of transportation were horses and wagons.
While there may still be a feast, the turkey or ham might be slightly smaller, but still large enough to provide some leftovers. We could see quartets or quintets of people singing songs instead of large choirs.
There have already been some changes. In visiting Santa Claus, the jolly elf is wearing a face shield or standing behind a plastic partition. Others of Santa’s helpers are putting space between themselves and children. For some they realize these changes are needed for reasons of health and safety, others don’t like them at all.
As I’ve often said this year, if we’re lucky, this will be a one year event. It will be something that many of us can tell our children or grandchildren about. Some of the stories may focus on the negative, others will be about the positive or how they had something funny happen to them with a mask such as how the bands kept getting caught up in their glasses. Either way there will be stories and if we’re lucky there will be wisdom to be passed down in those stories.