Meet me in St. Louis...

While Thanksgiving isn't until Thursday and December is 10 days away, we are all set up for Christmas. Lights are twinkling, tree is decorated, and the stockings are hung. Currently there is a Scottish terrier puppy asleep on the tree skirt. Cheesy Christmas movie playing as I blog. Normal Rockwell's got nothing on me.

This weekend there was a lot of chatter in my neighborhood of who is doing what for the holidays. As I live in a neighborhood that is all new builds, we are all "new" to the area; almost 100% hailing from outside Charlottesville. No one is traveling, folks are sharing where they ordered Thanksgiving dinner from, and everyone seemed to be okay with it all. I did notice many homes have put up their Christmas décor. A sign that the holiday spirit is alive and well. Perhaps a reminder that we all needed. A holiday season that will have no parties or luncheons. A season of virtual secret Santa, zoom caroling, and 14 day quarantines for those who will see family. Maybe this year we will be inundated with a merry COVID remix of the 12 Days of Christmas.

Like everyone else as the year winds to an end you begin to take stock. What I accomplished this year, what didn't I accomplish, what did COVID ruin...your typical pandemic style list. Personally, I'm not sure how I made it through 2020 with all its accompanying bullshit. Statistically speaking I should have failed, utterly and completely. An unfortunate occupational hazard, learning really uplifting statistics along the away. I'm not going to say I didn't struggle because I did. If you're reading this blog, you know I've danced with failure. But here we are lighting up trees and singing yule tide carols.

One of my favorite Christmas movies is 1944's "Meet me in St. Louis." A movie that is 41 years older than me. Also the move in which the song "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" debuted. Odds are you've heard the song a time or two; likely never gave much thought to the lyrics. However in my personal opinion it is the one holiday classic that can best be applied to 2020. Another option is "Grandma got run over by a reindeer," because, well, 2020.

Lets break down the lyrics.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas Let your heart be light Next year all our troubles will be out of sight

Will all of our troubles be out of sight next year, no, they will not. COIVD will still be a thing and vaccines will still be making their rounds. We still got a way to go. However, next year will not be as shocking to the system. I hope. We're living COVID. We know how to be socially distant socials. We've figured out how to do life like this. Not gracefully, but we're living.

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Have yourself a merry little Christmas Make the yule tide gay Next year all our troubles will be miles away

Once again as in olden days Happy golden days of yore Faithful friends who were near to us Will be dear to us once more

This year has shown how to do friendship in a myriad of ways. Facetime, zoom, webex, skype, and every platform in between. We are finding ways to connect. Perhaps we have found new friends due to odd circumstances. A refreshed perspective on pre-COVID activities. We will eventually be able to do life as we did pre-COVID. However, I challenge you to think all the way back to life before COVID. Are there things in your life that you shouldn't revert back to? Are there some unfortunate realities that COVID highlighted? Which version of yourself do you want to see once we are allowed to be dear once more?

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Someday soon, we all will be together If the fates allow Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

Well, were muddling through. Not super gracefully or timely, but we're muddling through. Just like Esther Smith sang to her little sister Tootie in the movie when their father announced a move to the big city of New York. Life is unexpected and unpredictable. Kind of like pandemics. As long as your can handle the muddling, someday soon we all will be together.

I will be the fist to admit that scenarios such as these don't exactly help ones depression and anxiety. We are typically not the group saying relax, everything's fine, we just got to muddle through this. Perhaps breaking out in musicals would help. More than likely it would only increase the anxiety.

Now you are stuck in a weird game of chase. My history forces me to constantly evaluate where I am, what I am doing, and how am I coping with the all the things. Some weeks, gold starts aplenty, others.....well, not so much.

This week is a short work week. A week that has me yearning to take Wednesday off too however, the list of asks and tasks is already long enough. In my head I am hoping to get those lists back to manageable lengths, hoping people are taking time off this week. From what I can tell, most folks are working.

While Thursday is a holiday, we aren't going over the river and through the woods. We are putting on pj's and walking downstairs. I could think of worse ways to spend a Thursday.

Well it’s Monday morning and off to work I go. The kids are off school for the week. There is no hustle to get out the door. I only live 10 minutes from work. And I am finishing this post while one little love is snuggled up next to me. Not a terrible way to start Monday. While the buzz of early morning emails have started and pajamas would likely be frowned upon, i should get it together. As those tasks of asks won’t solve themselves.

The last few days before the “holiday season.” 40 days to figure out how to wind down 2020 and embrace 2021.

So, have yourself a merry little Monday......