The Magic of the Season

Welcome back to the last episode of A'lil Hoohaa's photo blogging challenge. Of course December's theme is The Magic of the Season, and any other year I could tell you about my beloved Harley Santas riding across town, the picturesque Christmas markets going on everywhere, friends and family coming over for Grittibänze and cookies.

Not in 2020 though.

Even our elves had to quarantine before they moved around in our house. Also they can't fly back and forth to the North Pole to report to Santa, they have to do so via Zoom. So everything is a lot different this year, and it may be harder to find magic. Can you still though? Let's find out.

Isn't it interesting how you only really get to know people in times of crisis? Like during a breakup your ex shows their real face, same goes for the end of an employment. In everyday life I get to see it on the street. People cut in line, tailgate, use their flashers, flip you off and steal the last parking spot. Now with Covid it gets really obvious who's an entitled brat only looking to maximise their personal freedom and have fun. Sometimes I find it really hard to share the same air with (cov)idiots.

I was happy to do some counteraction. In a Facebook Mommy Group I heard about a single Mom whose food budget was exhausted by the middle of the month. She lives just a couple towns away, and one morning I dropped two large bags of non-perishable groceries at her place.

A group of students was looking for well-preserved toys to re-gift to families who can't afford presents for their kids this year. Colin gracefully parted with a lot of his former favorite things like Lego, soft hockey sticks and more. On the day of the deadline I packed up my car and drove 50 minutes through a snow storm to get our things to the collection point.

A friend of my Mom's asked for clothes she wanted to donate to families in need. Even though I was in a hurry, I basically removed the four or five items on the bottom of each pile: jeans, sweaters, jackets. Let's be honest, clearly we're not wearing them anyway! 

It's definitely more blessed to give than to receive. Plus it gave me a chance to purge, and if you've been following me for a while you know how I always feel we have way too much stuff! So I do hope the recipients of the food, clothes and toys will be experiencing a little magic!

At the office we have this tradition to visit our corporate customers and give them a crate of mandarines. This year we were hesitating because of Covid, but we knew most of them would be there, and so off we went, wearing our masks, and let me just tell you, people so appreciated it. "We were wondering if you'd come this year because of Covid, and here you are!"

Speaking of our office. The village advent calendar was due again in 2020! Every other year families and businesses decorate a window they reveal on their assigned day. Usually there are snacks and warm beverages for passersby. This year of course we were discouraged from doing so. interestingly while we were still applying the finishing touches, people would walk by and wave, so of course I'd go outside - in my sweater - and talk to them. I felt I met more people than when we had a regular event. It was really nice to meet some new folks, too.

As for me personally, I found some seasonal magic in these snow covered trees... December 1st has been the only snow day so far, and I enjoyed it so much!

And in this partial but intense early morning rainbow on the road. I tried to navigate to the end of it to catch some of that gold, but it was gone by the time I got there. The rainbow, that is. Well, the gold, too.

Of course a visit at the Country Seasons, our friendly Canadian specialties store, is always magical. Their shipment of Tim Hortons hot chocolate was late, and we had to be patient since we had run out a while ago. So happy it arrived before Christmas!

How magical was your season? Let me know down below, and don't forget to check out the other posts over at A'lil Hoohaa's blog.

Here's to a wonderful 2021! Thank you for being part of my journey!