This is my favorite time of year and my favorite story to write. I must be honest, though, when I say that this has been my toughest story in 2020. The euphoria of the holidays is understandably lacking. 

To help me get in the holiday spirit, I have been watching Hallmark Christmas movies since October 23rd – which, if you know me, is not really anything new. 

Christmas in 2020 is Different this Year

The movies are predictable. Loving family, everyone singing carols around the piano, ice skating, snowball fights and watching movies. The good guy always gets the girl(s) in the end with a perfect Christmas kiss as they roll credits. 

I started to think of some of my favorite, most memorable Christmas times growing up in Ohio and I realized that not one would have qualified for a Hallmark movie, yet they seemed normal to me at the time and remain some of my favorite memories. I think we all have our own version of a Hallmark Christmas.

I definitely had a loving family, but predictable we were not. My mom was a shopping procrastinator. She would drag me along to “speed shop” on Christmas Eve as we shut all the stores down in town. One year, she was so behind, that Christmas morning we awoke to gifts wrapped in garbage bags. She did put pretty ribbons on the bags, so that made it fun and festive. 

We had a piano, but my family didn’t gather around it and sing. Trust me, you didn’t want to hear that. We did, however, gather around the stove putting out the flames of something Grandpa had placed on a burner. Usually plastic, which filled the air with stinky smoke. Now that was Christmas. 

Our skating pond was about 15 acres from the house and my dad would transport me and my sister there in the bucket of the tractor. Every time he hit a bump we would bang our heads on the top of the bucket. Sounds like a Hallmark Christmas movie to me! 

Snowball fights were hard, because we were so bundled up that we couldn’t bend over or even form a snowball. We just pushed each other down and then tried to get back up again. 

After dinner, my dad loved to get the slide projector out and show Christmas pictures to friends and family. I was in high school the Christmas that dad decided to show a new box of Christmas slides he found and my boyfriend, now husband, David was there with his entire family. First slide up – a close-up of me in my new Christmas underpants that had the word Monday on them. Fortunately, that was the only day of the week that made the show.

But in the end, the good guy always got the girl(s). My sister and I would put our jammies on and run to give my dad a big Christmas hug and kiss before bed.

Roll credits!

Find great holiday events and activities in our Volusia County Holiday Activities Guide!

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