It’s (still) looking a lot like Christmas.

When it became a reality that Scott would be in hospital over Christmas this year, it was really easy to leave the house undecorated, change radio stations to avoid carols and remain completely un- festive with 14 degree temps and sterile hospital surroundings leading up to the big day. I do love the holidays, but Scott is Christmas obsessed, and without him to be festive with, I would have been totally happy skipping it altogether, particularly because the kids are still pretty young. But I realized that wouldn’t have made Scott feel any better, nor would it have made being separated any easier. 

We were given the idea of having two Christmases – one on Dec 25 and another with Scott when he returned home. With the timeline that was given, we predicted it would be sometime early January. We would tell the kids that we were a very special family this year, and Santa would be visiting us twice because he wanted to make sure to see Daddy when he was home. That seemed like a great plan!

So on Dec 25 we had a toned down version, mostly so the kids wouldn’t feel like they missed out when they returned to school and heard tales of their friends’ Santa visits. They left out cookies for Santa, I (feeling like a total traitor) read The Night Before Christmas, we put on our new jammies and my mom and I wrapped after bedtime. Going through the motions, but selfishly not putting a lot of heart into it. They loved it all, but Harrison’s first questions when I woke him up in the morning were if daddy was home, or coming home that day. I’m thinking his heart maybe wasn’t totally into it either.

But today we had our “second” Christmas – and if the calendar wasn’t flipped to January 9th, we wouldn’t have been any the wiser. It definitely felt like the real thing – plus, this time we had a bit of snow and Swiss chalet lunch is an easy clean up. It was lovely, and a good reminder that the spirit of the season isn’t tied to just one day. We’re thinking this second/delayed Christmas thing could become tradition!

So, merry (second) Christmas friends.