The Lens:
Pandemic Christmas. What did yours look like?
Our pandemic Christmas looked drastically different than our usual Christmas. In a typical year, we would spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family, anywhere from 15 to 20+ people. Christmas dinner would be celebrated with my husband’s side. A smaller group but still a good size, in the neighborhood of 12 to 15.
Due to the pandemic, I had thought we should forgo our usual Thanksgiving dinner with my husband’s family but I got overruled. We did a very early outdoor dinner. It was better than I had expected but not sure I would do it again.
For Christmas Eve, before stay-at-home orders were issued, my sister was planning an outdoor get together. “Dress warmly,” was the pitch. We were in. There was no plan yet for Christmas.
Then stay-at-home was issued. When revisiting our holiday plans, we took stay-at-home seriously. There was a lot of COVID exposure on both sides as many of us work outside our homes. In addition, we had my elderly in-laws to consider.
When talking it over with my family, I felt it was either all or nothing. That is, we spend Christmas as usual with both sides or do our own thing. We decided to do our own thing.
Our usual Christmas Eve party is usually rather lively (chaotic is probably more accurate a description). My husband’s family parties are quieter, but they are not what would be considered quiet but a lot of people’s standards.
And, there is the usual running around if we are not hosting. Or, the before and after cleaning, cooking, and setting up if we are. Always fun but very tiring.
Our pandemic Christmas Eve was very quiet. We did some dessert-making. Dinner was ready-made tamales with the trimmings, so no cooking there – always a plus. My sons did a group call with their cousins to do a gift exchange. After, we had dinner, followed by watching “Polar Express.”
It was so different, it is hard to say how I felt about it. But, this was such a different year, that “different” seemed to fit the bill. There were pros and cons. Still, I wasn’t disappointed.
Pandemic Christmas Day was a little more lively. We did our usual gift exchange in the morning. Later, we had a group family call. After, we did an all-day Christmas movie/show marathon, which included “Elf,” and “The Santa Clause.”
If you add to these some of the other movies we watched this season, like “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and “A Christmas Carol,” Christmas seems all about believing, whether in Santa, angels, or ghosts.
The “do you believe” movies aren’t limited to Christmas and Santa, though. There are all sorts of believing themed movies. Some examples include: “Angels in the Outfield,” “Toothless,” “Oh, God!” Adults are faced with believing the unbelievable.
Do you believe in Santa? How about the Tooth Fairy? Or the Easter Bunny? I would guess “no” to all of those. But what about God or angels? Maybe you do, but would you believe it if someone walked up to you and said he/she was God or an angel?
There comes a point in our lives when we don’t believe in the unbelievable because we know better. We understand what is real and what is make believe. For us to believe in what is unbelievable, we need more than being told to believe. We need proof.
The Refraction:
New Year’s is just a few days away. We are about to lay 2020 to rest, and none-too-soon for most of us. We have experienced a worldwide pandemic, massive wild fires (where one day, here is San Francisco, the sun didn’t come out – see “When Day Was Night”), brutal storms, protesting and rioting in the name of bigotry, a most contentious presidential election followed by claims of extensive voter fraud.
Whew! Did I leave anything out? Maybe. There was just too much happening. Oddly, though, as strange as all of this has been, I think there is another topper for the year in terms of most bizarre.
As adults, we are well versed in not believing the unbelievable. However, we have a lot of work to do in the area of believing the believable. I’ll add to that we need to work on believing the proved.
We began our assault on truth with denying a worldwide pandemic existed. We continued our attack by denying that racial injustice exists. Then, we denied climate change. Finally, we believed that it was extensive voter fraud, not the will of the people, that dictated the outcome of the election.
Anyone could do a cursory research on the pandemic, racial injustice, and climate change and find some compelling evidence that they exist. And, if that isn’t enough to satisfy, deeper research would provide proof. As for voter fraud, we have the same compelling lack of evidence and proof.
We make a choice to believe in God and/or angels without the benefit of proof. We have to believe in them without proof for proof does not/cannot exist. Believing in God and/or angels is not believing the unbelievable. It is called faith. Faith is about trust and confidence without needing proof.
But, faith doesn’t apply to something that is provable, like voter fraud. You can check voter rolls, vote counts, voter machine accuracy, etc. To believe that voter fraud exists without evidence is to believe without verifying what is verifiable.
Not verifying what is verifiable is not what having faith is about. It is just being lazy and self-serving.
I have started to become bit of a fact-checker. I am a Facebook user and am astonished at how much junk is posted, and by people who should know better. I see quotes attributed to the wrong person, statements that are misleading, articles that only tell half the truth, and more.
This may seem harmless when it comes to “feel good” or “inspirational” posts. But a lie is a lie. When you see one lie posted by a “friend,” what does that do the integrity to the rest of his/her posts?
And, what does it do to the overall integrity of the sharing of ideas? Yes, I will believe this because it makes me feel good or it inspires me regardless of whether or not it is true. Yet, isn’t that the same thing those who deny the pandemic, etc., are doing – believing in what may not be true because it satisfies us?
The truth is just a few fingertip taps away but we choose to believe without verifying what is verifiable. We may fall into believing rather than verifying because we don’t want to take the time to verify. Afterall, that is a lot easier. Or, we may confuse what we should believe in, like someone’s potential, and what we should verify as true, like the odds of employment in a certain field. A grayer area but not impossible to sort out.
Believing makes nothing true. Even in the case of God, many would argue that believing in God does not make God real.
We should strive for truth. Try a little experiment and check the information you receive from others, whether verbally or through social media, for a week or so. See how much is true and wholly true. You may be surprised by how inaccurate information can be. Then see how you feel once you know the truth.
Sometimes it might not feel so good. Yet, armed with the truth, pleasant or uncomfortable, you can move in a direction toward more authentic living.
My mom used to say, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it at all.” I am going to apply a little twist to that. I hope 2021 becomes the year that if we don’t have proof that something verifiable is true, we don’t share it at all.