Buon Natale

Christmas lunch was scheduled for the 27th. But with an Ontario-wide lockdown in place for Boxing Day, my family moved it to Christmas Day. No doubt there were many people who were doing the exact same thing: changing plans, fast-forwarding schedules, and so on. Health authorities are right that these half-hearted measures by the Ford government are less effective.

However, we did limit ourselves to individual households. This was not a 100% buffer zone since throughout the day, other members of my extended family visited to deliver gifts and stayed for a quick chat. This just goes to show how easily people underestimate contact risks.

With a smaller gathering, it was a simple lunch: spring rolls and turkey and shrimp fried noodles. Dessert was fresh fruit and a (dried) cake from a co-worker that seemed to have been made from sliced bread and icing. Still, there was plenty of cheer as a nephew was arriving in a few months.

I reflected that this was the first Christmas without the whole clan. For a long time, everybody came. In the past few years, with the younger generation living further away and in-law visits to other cities becoming more common, it was getting harder to organize a get-together that accommodated everyone. But this year was the first time that the familias was fragmented into separate households. I wonder if this will be a blip or an acceleration of an ongoing process.