Covid Christmas

Instead of braving Covid crowds in stores for this year's Christmas presents, I "shopped" in my kitchen. My gifts were home-made mine tarts, oat cakes, pecan sand-tarts and sugar cookies with lots of sprinkles.

 

My friend Linda came up with the idea of knitting a POP! blanket for my grandnieces, Emi and newly arrived Mia. This blanket has its origins in pop art and the bright circles are made of Japanese wool. Linda displays it after finishing it earlier this year. Photo by John Denniston.

This Christmas, John and I didn’t shop, except for food. We didn’t decorate, except for a string of lights around the front door. We didn’t – shhhh -- even clean the house. Why fuss? No one was coming.

And yet, and yet, we still had a fine Christmas. In lieu of shopping, I went into baking mode, the results of which became my gifts. My friend Linda used her knitting skills to solve my other gifting dilemma –something special for my two grandnieces. And instead of hosting family and friends for the usual turkey dinner, John and I made quick back-yard visits to them to exchange gifts and say hello.

Of course it was a very different from what we're used to. No steamy kitchen with guests wandering in and out, no piles of gifts or wrappings strewn across the floor, no blazing fireplace, no blissful moment when everyone is finally at the table together. But still, somehow, the greetings and gifts of our brief, chilly meet-ups gave us the needed jolt of holiday cheer.

We came home smiling, but later, I discovered one of the unforeseen problems of doing Christmas this way: The house really, really still needs cleaning!

This year's baking gave me my first chance to use the cookie cut-outs I inherited from John's mother decades ago. I was delighted to find a star, Christmas tree, Santa, gingerbread man and other fancy shapes.

The production line: pecan sand-tarts underway. The recipe is an old-family one from my friend Ros, who used to distribute these cookies to family and friends every Christmas. I got the recipe from Ros and apparently passed it on to my mother, as I came across it in her old  hand-written special-recipes book. These cookies come with a lot of family connections!

Once baked, they're rolled in icing sugar.

The finished product: lots of goodies to be wrapped in waxed paper and given to friends (not that we didn't save a lot for ourselves!)

A box of cookies ready for my nephew Etienne, his wife Aya and daughters Emi and Mia.

Me as Santa Claus leaving the house with gifts on Christmas Day. Yes, we have lights strung up around the front door -- first time ever! Photo by John Denniston.. 

Emi (left) and Aya inspect the blanket on the back steps of their house during our Christmas-Day visit to them. Photo by John Denniston. 

As older sister, Emi (left) has first dibs on the blanket when she and Mia settle on the couch after our Christmas visit. Photo courtesy of  their mom Aya, who confessed to wondering whether the blanket might be a bit too precious for children so young. They don't appear to think so. 

During our outdoor visit to my friend Linda, she showed us the bright yellow socks she knit herself to provide a splash of sunshine in these grey Covid days. She also made her green finger-less gloves, and is holding a bag of colourful dishcloths she knit me as a Christmas present. I gave her (what else?) cookies, mincemeat and cranberry sauce. Photo by John Denniston.

Our loot. Etienne and Aya gave us ultra-beautiful chocolates and three elaborate desserts, and Emi added her colourful drawings to the bottom of their Christmas card to us. To the left is Linda's bag of dishcloths in bright, cheerful colours.

This is the aftermath of a successful Christmas gift: John and I polished off those three desserts in no time, and that was after eating a full Christmas turkey dinner. We had to restrain ourselves from licking the box!