Home Alone for Christmas

My husband and I spent Christmas by ourselves this year. Most of our 46 Christmases together have been whirlwinds of activity, usually with travel to one set of our parents or the other. In more recent years, one or both of our adult children have usually come to visit.

But this year, our children were otherwise occupied, and we weren’t up for flying during the busy and unpredictable holiday season. So my husband and I were “home alone.”

The only other Christmas we spent alone was in 2020, when the pandemic still had most of us unwilling to travel. My husband and I had a quiet day then, though as I recall we “Zoomed” with many family members. I cooked, but it was a low-key meal.

This year, I looked forward again to a quiet day, and so it proved to be.

We started with ham and cheese croissants, which I’d set out to rise at 5:00am. (No reason to rise early to check out what Santa Claus left me, but a grown-up reason for an early morning.) Then back to bed until a more human hour. The croissants went into the oven at 7:30, and I turned on our Christmas lights, which stayed on all day.

I went to Mass at the least stressful time (Christmas morning—not the Children’s Mass on Christmas Eve, and not Midnight Mass when I would be too groggy to enjoy the carols). The music at Mass was lovely, the homily inspiring, and it made me focus on the original message of Christmas. As an added plus, a one-year-old sat in the pew in front of me and kept me entertained. She is smaller than my granddaughter, but about three months older, so more advanced in her communications and mobility.

When I got home, my husband and I opened our gifts at our leisure while snacking for lunch. There was a nice haul for the two of us under the tree, to supplement the many gifts of sweets, meats, and other goodies we received in the weeks ahead of the holiday. But there was no mad craze to see what Santa left, nor crankiness and tears from overstimulated kids. We had a thoroughly adult Christmas. I received some interesting books, and clothes that all fit.

I cooked our Christmas dinner, but as in 2020, the meal was not extravagant. Turkey breast instead of the full bird. Some side dishes I’d made ahead, others went into the oven with the turkey. I only made one pie, but we still had candies and cookies in the gift tins. We did not go hungry. And the clean-up was easy.

In the evening, I called the West Coast branch of my family, where my sister, brother, daughter, and their families all gathered. They are two time zones behind us, so we were done with our meal when they were not yet ready to eat. I got to participate in their chatter for fifteen minutes. I listened to my granddaughter babble and heard about her first Christmas morning. I missed them all, but maybe we will have Christmas together in a future year.

Then I watched the Call the Midwife Christmas special on PBS. A heartwarming story to end my day.

I wouldn’t want to have a quiet by ourselves Christmas every year because part of the pleasure of Christmas is being with family. But this was a nice change of pace.

How was your Christmas? Was there more of a focus on Bethlehem or bedlam?