Three Fun Zooms Today, Feels Like a Holiday

Today was the annual Needlepoint Christmas exchange. It is always the first or second Monday in December where a dozen of us gather to exchange the needlepoint treasure we have made for one special friend whose name we drew out of the hat in January. Normally we have a lovely lunch and give each other little gifts. It is one of the Christmas traditions I look most forward too.

Covid changes everything. This year we had our exchange via zoom which had it’s logistical issues. We all had to bring our gifts to one place over the last week. Then today we had to pick up our individual bags of goodies and go home to have the Zoom at three. Since I was providing the homemade scones and mini jars of jam so that we could at least pretend we were at a tea party I had to get up early and bake.

It felt very festive to package up a pair of scones in a tiny bakery box with a little glassine star shaped window. With a dozen of us on Zoom we took turns opening our ornament that was stitched for each of us in secret. Each person held their treasure close to the camera so we could “ohhh and ahhh” over the choices of stitches and fibers the maker had chosen.

It was not the same as being in person, even though Ann wore her traditional red plaid turtle neck to make us feel like it was a normal year, but it was fun to be together, each eating our scones and sharing our love of needlepoint.

My second zoom was a group of college friends who had all read the same book. It’s funny how different opinions can be about the story, but my love of these friends makes me appreciate all their points of view. My favorite line from the book was “To end a friendship, it just takes someone willing to throw it away.” I found this to be especially apropos with this group, some of whom I have not seen much in thirty years, but thanks to Covid we have rekindled our friendship. I just love the idea that you are always friends, through time and space, as long as you don’t willing make it end.

My last Zoom was the happiest, the birthday celebration with Carter. Although I had already face timed with her earlier in the day I got the bonus double chance to see her face as she opened her birthday presents that had been accumulating in her apartment. If you can’t be together you can at least make sure she has things to open that will make her smile.

In three days I get to see her in person, but I’m glad she had a fun birthday today.

Three fun Zooms today, feels like it was a holiday.