Honestly? Like all the Whos in Whoville, my wife and I were pretty depressed when we first started talking about Christmas this year. It seemed Grinch-19 had stolen it right out from under us!

For the first time in her life,our youngest daughter won’t be with us (flying is too risky). And our oldest and her significo are cautiously splitting their limited-exposure time between families. Result? It will just be the two of us on Christmas Day. Plus, the Christmas Eve service at our church will be a 20 minute, socially-distanced, outdoor event (brrrr), with no lighting of each other’s candles.

My wife suggestedwe skip giving each other gifts this year (we’re still doing donations in each other’s names). Which make sense, actually; after all, we’re buying some pricey work-related items right after Christmas. I don’t really care about getting presents (I was all about it when I…