2020 has been quite a year. No one could have anticipated the changes in the world that would come three months after the year started. And holidays are different for so many people this year.

Our holidays have been chaotic for quite a few years now. Snake’s dad remarried and they became snowbirds. Rarely here during the warmer months and here only every other year or so for Christmas since her family lives in Florida.

My parents are gone so that piece of our celebration is gone as well. And now we’ve been traveling back and forth to Portland to visit family some years and here some years. We never are entirely sure where we’ll be.

This year we are home. And actually had planned to be so that isn’t really much of a change for us. It will be quiet and just immediate family, but that’s our normal Christmas so we haven’t really lost anything. We are very fortunate.

We are not religious. At all. Christmas has never revolved around church services. Christmas Eve is spent going to movies and then eating pizza and reading Christmas books.

We have quite a collection and while some will be recognizable, others you probably never heard of. Eloise is a favorite, but most of our most read books are a bit…different. Auntie Claus and The Lump of Coal and Santa’s Twin. The Littlest Angel but also Christmas Trolls and Olive the Other Reindeer. It usually is a marathon reading that takes 2-3 hours on Christmas Eve.

And honestly, that will still happen this year. Family is Christmas to us. Christmas Eve doing our unique traditions followed by Christmas morning opening stockings and gifts while waiting for the egg casserole to cook. Ham for dinner while everyone uses their new gifts. Nothing fancy, but it is love. And that’s what Christmas is in the Snake Den.