Onward & Outward – Don’t let the COVID Grinch steal your Christmas

December 3, 2020 2:44 am

2020 has proven to be a year that will shape the way we will live and work forever, bringing fundamental changes to our own personal customs and traditions that looking back, we probably have taken for granted.

Balancing the “double duty’ of home schooling and work, overcoming social isolation and facing job and financial uncertainty, has placed enormous pressure on our communities and people that live within those communities.

For some, Christmas has been a glimmer of hope, nurturing the thought of reuniting with family, friends and colleagues. The Christmas season has now arrived and our hopes are a wonderful reality. We perhaps cannot embrace the spirit of Christmas as we have in the past, but if your Christmas spirit-o-meter is running low, I encourage you to start letting into your hearts the sights, sounds, tastes and your own personal traditions of Christmas.

1. Turn on the Christmas Carols
Nothing gets you in the festive spirit faster than music. Once you hear those familiar songs, the warm and fuzzy Christmas feelings come rushing back.

“White Christmas” by Bing Crosby

“The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole

“Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives

“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Bing Crosby.

2. Watch your Favourite Christmas Classics
You have seen them a million times, but they will guarantee to bring you joy.

3. Read your Favourite Christmas Classics
Like ‘The Polar Express’ and ‘A Night Before Christmas’.

4. Decorate your Christmas Tree and Add Some Beautiful Lights
Nothing quite puts the Christmas magic back in your heart like Christmas lights. Houses in our neighbourhoods are transformed into extraordinary beauty, bringing joy to us all. Why not take a drive and take in these wonderful displays that are both exquisite and magical.

Instead of saying to our neighbours, our friends & our families, how great it will be when 2020 is over, I encourage you to have a Christmas like you have never had before, whatever your beliefs, your customs or your traditions. If we all try and make up for everything we have missed, it will be a chaotically wonderful day of happiness and celebration.

Happy Christmas to you all. – Sue Thomson, CEO McLean Care