It was the era of celebration, the era of vaccination. It was the epoch of occasions, the epoch of isolations. It was the season of Christmas, the season of coronavirus.
This festive period and the closing month of 2021 has been tinged with tiresome developments that we hoped we had seen the back of. I am still in disbelief at the volume of events that managed to squeeze themselves into this twelve-month period – one that has simultaneously felt like the quickest and most dragged-out year.
An assessment of 2021 cannot avoid the elephant that we so desperately want to keep out of the room. As the coronavirus evolved, so too did our lives. But it was not a smooth and seamless transition from one lockdown to the next. The bumpy road was laden with restrictions, anxiety and uncertainty. We saw before us a tale of two Christmases. After months of misery in 2020, a new year offered a fresh slate of security. With the naivety of a student who thought she would be attending college in person during her first year, I was more excited for the winter weeks than I had been in years.
Hold firm and winter out a meaningful celebration. That was the message last year. For most of us, the joys of Christmas exist in the family gatherings and shared traditions. Our beloved rituals, however, became yet another victim of the pandemic. Usually, I spend Christmas Eve traipsing around town with my family, attempting to locate any available tables amongst the crowded cafés. On Christmas Eve 2020, however, this tradition was switched to baking gingerbread with my sisters as we prepared for a quiet Christmas that would consist of yet more Zoom calls and outdoor socialising.
This festive period and the closing month of 2021 has been tinged with tiresome developments that we hoped we had seen the back of
As this new kind of Christmas unfolded, new traditions were encouraged to acknowledge the role that this “unique” Christmas experience would mark in the pages of history. While hospital beds filled and restrictions increased, we comforted one another with the assurance that if we could winter out one stomach-churning, virus-ridden Christmas, then surely all would be well.
But, 2020 was not to be the final chapter in this tale.
Last year, weary as we were, the country took to motivating one another with heart-warming videos of neighbourhood bingo, personalised delivery baskets and a sense of shared hope. Now, facing a second year of a pandemic Christmas, we’re making efforts to keep spirits up and maintain the magic of the season. But we’re exhausted. We never thought, after Christmas 2020, we’d be doing this all over again.
December 2021 has left me, once again, scrolling through Twitter to decipher this season’s restrictions and trying to headcount social events with more accuracy than a nativity play shepherd. Negative results are now a cause for celebration, while After Eight chocolate can thank the Irish government for a successful Christmas marketing campaign.
Last year, weary as we were, the country took to motivating one another
The Taoiseach’s appearance outside government buildings has become an all too familiar seasonal sighting, and not one that is associated with bringing tidings of joy. Increased concern over the Omicron variant and updated guidelines means that the search for silver linings has had to become secondary to the search for a second line on an antigen test.
For the sake of accuracy, a tradition cannot really be deemed as such until it has been repeated. A new activity may only truly gain tradition status when we begin to replicate and pass it on. This is, of course, utterly ironic when most of our concerted efforts have been to avoid passing anything on, be it infection or coronavirus-prompted Christmas etiquette. We were all hoping that last year’s almost-traditions would be but a blip in the festive norm, but, here we are.
This Christmas will be round two in the pandemic journal, and the thought of smiling through hollow but necessary new traditions that barely resemble the old iterations is a tough one to swallow. However, despite the inevitable sense of deja vu instilled by tightened restrictions and heightened transmission, this is not 2020. Ireland has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country and, thanks to an incredible team of healthcare workers, scientists and other unsung heroes, deaths and serious illnesses have been hugely reduced. Positivity may feel like something that is reserved for antigen tests these days, but those traditions of annual parties, family get togethers or Christmas Eve customs, will return.
The tale of two Christmases is not a standalone story, and the sequel is merely yet to come.
