Celebrating Christmas in May helped this family keep the COVID-19 blues at bay

When Kelly Pitre woke to see a dusting of fresh snow on her front lawn during the first week of May, she decided to do something radical in an effort to help stave off the COVID-19 blues. 

She turned on the fireplace, put on some Christmas carols and got a turkey dinner going, of course. 

"I just said to the kids, 'You know what we should do? Doesn't it look like Christmas? We should pretend it's Christmas today,'" Pitre said. 

Each year, Pitre puts up about seven or eight Christmas trees around the house.

"We're just big fans of Christmas. My son still has his Christmas tree up in his bedroom."

After weeks of juggling the roles of vice-principal at Alberton Elementary, home-school teacher and mom — in the midst of a global pandemic — the impromptu touch of Christmas cheer was exactly what they needed.

"There's times when I find it a struggle, you know, because I'm ... their mom. It's really hard to tell them I need to give my attention to someone else right now," she said. 

"When you're at work it's easy to do that — they're at school, they're at daycare." 

It just put a little twist on the day.— Kelly Pitre

In addition to shifting to and from her various roles during COVID-19, Pitre has been carefully watching over her seven-year-old son, Blake, who recently finished a round of chemotherapy.

Last year, Blake was diagnosed with a chronic kidney disease that causes him to retain a lot of fluid, which leads to swelling. In December, to cheer him up, Blake's hockey team gathered at the family's home to sing some carols. 

"He's not in complete remission," she said.  

"He's not better but he's not bad. He looks really good right now because he doesn't have any fluid on and he doesn't have any swelling." 

So far, Pitre said virtual appointments with Blake's doctors have been working well, alongside home-care visits. 

"I am glad we're not going back to school for his sake," she said. "If he gets sick right now his kidneys will have a much more difficult time filtering that protein. So for him, I'm glad we're not going back." 

Since the pandemic touched down on P.E.I., Pitre starts each day with her kids by completing the lessons sent out by their teachers. After lunch, she said the three will often do something fun. 

We love Christmas, and any excuse to turn on Christmas music — and I had to make a supper anyway so I made a turkey dinner.— Kelly Pitre

"That usually takes till noon and I always do something with them after lunch so I thought, you know, we'll do some Christmas crafts," she said.  

"It just put a little twist on the day." 

Gift exchange

In addition to carols and crafts, Pitre said she had to get creative when it came to a gift exchange. 

"There's nothing open ... [went to] the hardware store and got them each a little outside toy and got my husband a new garden hose nozzle, I needed a new measuring cup ... just to make it fun for them," she said. 

While it was an amusing way to pass the time during COVID-19, Pitre acknowledges that it's not an activity that everyone can manage during this difficult time. 

"When I posted the stuff about the Christmas [on Facebook], I did that because we enjoy that and we love Christmas, and any excuse to turn on Christmas music — and I had to make a supper anyway so I made a turkey dinner," she said. 

"I would recommend it if it was fun, I wouldn't recommend it if it's stressful." 

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