It’s Christmas Day, 2020. It sure doesn’t feel like Christmas, but there it is right on the calendar: 12/25/20.

For us, it’s Christmas COVID-style. No kids or grandkids, no siblings, nieces or nephews, not even any Socal friends visiting. Just us. We have a lot to be thankful for – I never entirely lose sight of that – but the losses of time, family and special events in 2020 are hard to accept.

We did get a nice little gift this morning, though. The management at Dad’s assisted living facility sent a note saying that all the residents there will receive COVID-19 vaccine on December 30. That’s great news, obviously. One more possible tragedy averted (probably).

Last night we watched a movie that I really wanted to see, Midnight Sky. A George Clooney-produced science fiction film, with George himself in the leading role. Sounds great! But watching it on Christmas Eve in 2020 was a mistake. The movie was well-done, well-acted, beautiful, but unrelentingly sad. I mean “end of the world, nothing matters any more, how could this happen” sad. Drive you to drink sad. Probably not what anyone’s psyche needs right now. So nice job George, well done, but shitty timing. Should have held on to this one until 2021, maybe 2022.

---

Update: We ended up having a great Christmas Day. We talked and texted with family and friends. We decided to do a little project we’ve needed to do for a while – decanting and bottling our 2019-harvested olive oil. So sticking with an Italian theme (we grow Italian olive varietals), we opened up a nice bottle of locally-grown Negroamaro and filled 45 bottles with some excellent oil. Was a great, un-traditional way to celebrate an un-traditional Christmas.