Christmas was not cancelled this year. This, despite headlines proclaiming the demise of the holiday as London moved into ‘Tier 4’ due to a more contagious ‘variant’ of the virus. Family gatherings were banned, the city shut down, borders were closed. But the headlines were wrong. We may have the ribbons and tags, packages, boxes and bags, what we don’t have is each other. But Christmas came all the same, just as it did in 1940.
"He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming, it came. Somehow or other it came just the same.”
Blitzmas
This holiday season will be a memorable one. For all the things we could not do, places we could not visit, and people we could not see, we will be telling the story of this season for years to come, just as past generations did of major world events.
At some point in 1940 during the Blitz, the house and mews I live on in West London was bombed. These last nine months, I have often thought about the Blitz. It lasted eight months and during that time, almost 200,000 Londoners slept in tube stations and air raid shelters every night to protect themselves from the almost constant campaign of bombs over the city. Many left their homes each night during the blackouts, not knowing if they would have a home to come back to in the morning. As Churchill told the House of Commons that year, “We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.”
In contrast, we have been told to ‘stay at home’, warm and secure, with our electronic devices and electric lights to keep us occupied, well-lit, and entertained. COVID-19 has killed more people in the UK (67,616) than the Blitz (40,000), but it has not affected our daily lives nearly as dramatically. The slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On” was advertised on posters in early WWII to raise moral (and keep people from freaking out). The saying is telling; there is no directive, no advice, as Londoners had little control over what was happening. Our poster should read: Keep Calm and, Wear a Mask, Social Distance and Stay Home. While we can’t control the virus, we can do something. We can each play a part in curbing the spread. But in one respect it is very similar to the Blitz: we are all just trying to stay safe, to avoid being a target.
Those of us in my generation—the Gen Xers, and younger—have had it easy. I was born during the Vietnam War. By the time I was old enough to understand, it was long over. No other event since (until now) has had a material, ongoing, daily effect on my life. Past generations were not so lucky. By the time they were middle-aged, my parents had lived through the Great Depression, WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam. My childhood was the aftermath of all that: a home filled with cocktail parties, dinner parties, friends. People knew how to entertain back then, they dressed up, they celebrated life, perhaps because they finally could. Home had finally become a place of joy. A place to gather, to celebrate.
A Story to Tell
Years from now, we’ll look back and tell our stories of this year; where we were living, how it affected us. We’ll tell our grandchildren tales of the pandemic: how we isolated for months, celebrated birthdays on Zoom, cancelled weddings and graduation ceremonies. We’ll explain the tragedy of people in every country on earth who were sick, dying, losing jobs, closing businesses. We’ll share how the world suddenly and unexpectedly came to a screeching halt.
We will regale them with stories of how London was so still that the foxes started to come out at night to prowl the streets, how the waterways of Venice, with no boats, became clear enough to see the river bed, and how the smog in India dissipated, allowing people to see the Himalayan Mountains from Jalandhar for the first time in decades. We will tell them of how we used strange new terms such as ‘social distancing’, ‘mandatory face masks’, and ‘pandemic burn-out, that would have made no sense to us earlier in the year. We will share how, with no notice, our lives changed forever.
We will each have our own story to tell of this pandemic. We are living through history and this time is part of our life stories. It will shape us, our children most of all. Watching my 9 year old daughter face the ongoing disappointments of this year: plans constantly cancelled and changed, a birthday with no friends, over a year without seeing our family in America, has moved me. This experience has matured her and opened her eyes to the world around her, and I am amazed at her resiliency.
With no social plans, no commute, and no travel, we are experiencing our homes more than ever. The desire to be constantly busy is ingrained in many of us, but maybe having a reason, an excuse even, to slow down is a good thing. Time to take a walk in the park instead of commuting. Time to read a book instead of meeting friends. Time to finish personal projects that have been put off forever.
There will be books written about 2020. Every history book will have a chapter on this year. Post-pandemic, we will see a changed world; how we live, how businesses operate, the habits we’ve formed, the way we see each other. We will never be the same again. Perhaps we will notice the small joys in life that we are denied right now. Perhaps we won’t take things so much for granted.
This much I know for sure, we will celebrate life the way generations before us did when they came out the other side of a lengthy, tragic world event. And we will each have a story to tell.
Pizza
Wow what a great post. I love how you make Christmas a great holiday even though we can’t go anywhere or see anybody!
John Maclean
HAPPY NEW YEAR ARIANE!!! My best wishes for you, Marc and Olivia during 2021 which will certainly be much better than the year we are leaving behind.
Catherine
Nicely written – it is all about perspective.