So over the last couple of weeks I broke one of my own rules. No Christmas till the day after Thanksgiving. But this is 2020 and I think really since March every rule has been thrown out so it is okay to throw this one out too.
It started harmlessly enough with giving in and starting to watch Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel. I realize that these movies have been on since October but I was holding firm to my rule that Thanksgiving gets it own time.
The week before it was really nice outside and I had put up the outside lights, while the ground was not frozen and while I wasn’t going to freeze putting stuff up. 72 degrees in November is extremely rare in Minnesota, and you have to take advantage of it when you can. But nothing was plugged in. I was not the only Minnesotan that took advantage of the rare November weather, I had heard others saying that they had been putting up lights for the season.
I even went to Menards that weekend with the intent of finding something new for my yard. Really I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted a Santa and I wanted a Snoopy. I love Snoopy. I always have and the Peanuts Christmas special has always been my favorite. Probably because Linus takes the time to explain what Christmas is all about and every year when I watch it, I tear up.
To think about a child explaining what Christmas really means just makes it perfect to me. I found the Santa, and the Snoopy and then I saw the price and thought you have to be kidding me. They wanted 59.00 for Snoopy there was no way even in my best justification skills I could justify that for a “piece of plastic” shaped into Snoopy. Santa was not any better in price and so I went home with some yard stakes.
Last weekend I was cold and tired and fighting a migraine. So I was looking for something to watch that could be “background” for me. I caved and started watching the Hallmark channel and honestly it didn’t help things it made things worse. It intensived this feeling of loneliness that comes over me from time to time that seems to have been made worse by 2020.
Loneliness is one of the hardest emotions to deal with. It is not like you can just say hey guys I am having a really hard time being by myself 24/7 especially in the middle of a pandemic. It’s not like you can call someone and say hey let’s meet for dinner or go for a walk. So you have to find other ways to combat this feeling. For me it was waving my rule about no Christmas decorations/songs before Thanksgiving.
On Friday I made my way from store to store looking for the right tree at the right price, because after all I couldn’t have a sad tree and the previous tree I had, had gone to tree heaven. After checking all the other stores I ended up back at Mendards convinced that they like every other store would have there trees on clearance already. WHOOPS! I should have known better that John Menard would have put anything on sale yet. After looking at every tree and a couple of phone calls to my brother I finally decided on a tree.
I set my tree up yesterday, and I had to call my big brother to come help me as I did not have the tree put together exactly and I could not get the tree apart to fix it so it was Big brother to the rescue. We got the tree together and working. My brother brought with him two blow ups one was a snow man and the other was a Santa. I had not told my brother or sister in law that I was looking for something to put on the deck but some how they knew.
Sometimes it is just the little things that help combat that loneliness. Maybe it was just going to the store to look at the different trees available or the couple of friends that I had a chance to talk to over the course of the week. But the loneliness, got less and I was able to say you know what it is all going to be okay.
So in this crazy year of 2020 I say it is OK to listen to Christmas music early, to enjoy the Christmas lights in fact take that extra drive this year to enjoy them. Watch your favorite specials and make your favorite foods.
Until Next Time,
Juli
Juli's Blog 