Does it feel like Christmas? 5 replies

You know, cos of the big COVID it does not feel like Christmas. I havent even bought gifts. Am I bad?

Nope.

We've decided to not really do gifts this year either.

I bought gifts for my wife. That was it.

She got me a bourbon glass with a map of Portland etched onto it. Pretty stoked about it:

Can't really think of anything I need or want.  

This is the first Christmas I can remember where I haven't taken any of the non-mandatory leave days, (days that the business shuts for you're generally ordered to use your leave for.) 

For me Christmas is about the passing over of the year. It's the point in the year where whatever's going on, I generally stop working. Done for the year. And thereafter is just the space between here and there, now and then.

Christmas is a ritual, and rituals exist in their own sort of time, usually at some sort of conceptual boundary. And in the overarching sense they're about how do you cross over that boundary as a group - how do you reaffirm your connection to your group as individuals and how does your group affirm its connection to the culture?

I'm not sure how that's going to work here.

And, you know, I'm a relatively self-sufficient individual - frankly I've kind of had to be - so that doesn't bother me so much for myself. But there are some people I know through work whose sole protective factor in this time is that they work in a job that requires them to attend an office, and... yeah. There's some grim pictures, especially of our older staff, where you're talking to them and trying to get a sense of where they're at... and they're going to be sitting in a flat by themselves not doing anything. I worry about the sort of lives some people are going to be leading during this time.

Posted by Nemmerle

they're going to be sitting in a flat by themselves not doing anything. I worry about the sort of lives some people are going to be leading during this time.

I am going to be doing just this, but I have been doing this for the last 6 months, just with working from home and gaming.

I am worried about my mother, I cannot go to see her due to the laws re: lockdown etc. It's just an impossible situation. I understand why it is necessary but man is it also cruel.