Simply not having a Christmas time

 Thanksgiving used to be my favorite holiday of all. I would start cooking Wednesday night--pies, stuffing, sweet potatoes, fried onions--all the delicious things! I cooked from scratch mostly. Thursday morning, the children and I would watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning while finishing up all the sides and putting the turkey in.  The turkey would be BIG. I preferred an 18 pounder so we could have lots and lots of leftovers. Turkey sandwiches for days! So yummy.

Last year, all of the children were home plus Child 1's fiance. It was amazing. The day after, we went to Black Friday sales and stocked up on wedding supplies for Child 1's spring wedding and we decorated for Christmas. It was lovely, and it was the last time that will ever happen. Because first Covid hit and we didn't have a big wedding, although we did use all the tulle and pearls and candles we bought, so that was good! And then Child 3 decided she wanted to grow up AND LEAVE ME AND GO TO COLLEGE!!! Ugh! So this Thanksgiving Husband and I were alone in China. We had dinner with friends and didn't go Black Friday shopping at all because that is not a thing here. And I didn't cook. And we didn't watch the parade and I didn't eat Doritos and French onion dip while making stuffing. 

And now it is time to decorate for Christmas and I literally can't. Literally. Because our things have still not arrived even though we packed out in June and I have zero Christmas decorations. I keep dreaming that I am decorating for Christmas and then I wake up and remember that I can't because I have nothing to decorate with. OK, I have a "not zero number" of Christmas decorations, which is one. This one that I bought today at the saddest Christmas market ever:

I know. It's not bad and it was made by underprivileged children, but if you were ever wondering whether Christmas bazaars in China are as good as the ones in India, they are not. Even with the food poisoning we got at the first German School Christmas Mela in New Delhi, that bazaar was better by miles! Although the food poisoning was seriously not fun. The next year we just didn't eat the food and only shopped which solved the problem. But at this one in Beijing, it was mostly food I can't eat and too expensive jewelry. So I bought one thing and came home and put out my only Christmas decoration.

So that pretty much sums up the 2020 Holiday season. The children aren't coming home for Christmas because there are no flights because of Covid, and I am spending all my free time playing Animal Crossing and crying, sometimes at the same time. And you know what would be better than a brownie? If people would actually social distance and wear masks so we can get rid of Covid in the US so I can see my children! And so that people can celebrate next year with loved ones who are still alive because their neighbors cared enough to mask up.

And confidential to the children, please subscribe to my blog and comment that you have read it. If you do, I will blog more. If you don't care, then I don't either.

No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

So a world-wide pandemic that has killed over 1 million people is not better than a brownie, but you knew that already. There is too much to explain what you don't know, so let me sum up. Child one is married and graduated with an MPA. Child 2 and Child 3 are both studying different kinds of music at the same university. Husband and I spent a year+ studying Mandarin in Virginia via Zoom. And now we are in quarantine in Beijing where we should be studying Mandarin, but it is a holiday week so I am binge watching Netflix shows I downloaded before we came and playing on my Nintendo Switch. Husband is slowly going crazy because he has no one to talk to but me and I don't talk to him because I am busy playing Animal Crossing New Horizons like my life depends on it. And it does! Or at least my 5 star Island rating does and my neighbors have come to expect expensive presents and I still haven't learned how to catch scorpions without getting stung a million times. They team up on you and when you finally catch one, you still get stung!
But I digress.

You are now possibly wondering how long one can play ACNH without stopping and the answer is 11+ hours if you have a charger. Listen, it is quarantine in China and I had no internet access until yesterday and also I made 580,000 bells in ACNH two days ago by selling scorpions, so don't judge me. But I have been doing other things as well, like blindly ordering groceries via an app. Yes, I know I am supposed to be able to read Chinese, but although I know the characters for terrorist and violent crimes, the Department hasn't thought it important for me to learn the words for detergent or lemon juice, so I order by picture and sometimes am surprised. For example, whatever you think is spinach in China is definitely not spinach. And also lemon juice and dish soap look a lot alike. You cannot use dish soap as a substitute for lemons, if you are wondering. But I finally did find a photo of a lemon and I clicked on it and the next day I had two lemons delivered and something that looks like pork which I thought was chicken but is still edible. So success!

If you are wondering how I am adapting to life without the children and The Dog at home, the answer is terribly. I miss the children. I only know how to cook for 5 people so we have a LOT of surprise pork leftovers. And my kitchen floor is an unholy mess because The Dog isn't here to clean up spills. Yes, The Dog is just fine. She now lives with Child 1 and Son-in-law and is happy as a clam trying to steal their food and sleep in their bed. 

See? She is just fine and I don't miss her at all. Nope. I don't dream about her and I never mistake a pillow on the floor for her and I didn't even cry at all when I said good-bye to her. Nope. Not crying now either. That's just my eyes watering from too much lemon scented soap. 

I know, I know your final question is how is it learning Mandarin via Zoom? And the answer is definitely better than a brownie because you can cheat! Don't judge! I am too old to learn how to read again and if I didn't cheat, I wouldn't remember a single thing. Well technically, I'm not remembering so much as looking stealthily at my notes which are off camera. But you try learning to write Chinese characters in your old age and see how well you do! I can now write 100+ characters, so only 49,900 to go! Sigh. Maybe someday I'll actually be able to do it all without cheating, but I'm not holding my breath.