Klaus and a new Christmas tradition
I thought I knew how 2022 was going to go — I should’ve known better
This time of year, it’s usually A Muppet Christmas Carol or The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s usually visiting the breweries near where I live to gradually stock up ahead of my time off. It’s actually usually very few concessions to the season in case I’m sick of it before the 25th of the month. Like most people at this time of year, there’s usually very little wiggle room. I like what I like — and what you like is wrong.
But I haven’t had what I would call a traditional Christmas since 2017. A breakup, a pandemic, and a closure of international borders have each, one year or another, gotten in the way. (The fourth was ruined by the fact that I couldn’t for the life of me find any Twiglets — that essential Marmite-covered snack.) Your own holidays have probably been similar — in that they’ve been quite unlike any other. But if not for this enforced flexibility, maybe I would not be so willing to accept a new Christmas tradition in 2022.
Klaus was such an unexpectedly wonderful film that I wanted to watch again immediately after I finished it. But I’ll settle for watching it again next year.
Tomorrow, I’ll be hopping on the Eurostar to spend Christmas at my parents’ for the first time in a few years. This won’t be a traditional Christmas, either. My siblings all have partners, so we’ve implemented the tried and true system by which we alternate Christmas Day with our parents or our in-laws. This year, it so happens, belongs to the latter — except for my girlfriend and I as her family doesn’t celebrate. My family will be continuing our streak of quite untraditional Christmases when we gather on the 24th.
If Klaus can tell us anything about this time of year, it’s that that’s alright. Traditions can evolve — some can even be replaced. I have an idea of what next year will be like (we have a system, after all), but you never know. I thought I knew how 2022 was going to go, too.
