This year we had no advent calendar counting down the days till Yule. Illness kept us from taking the kids to look at Christmas lights. It kept us from baking cookies as a family and decorating them for Santa. There was no shared meal with friends on Christmas Day. No festivities.

But he and I have baked Greek pastries together since the first Christmas season we spent together dating in high school. The first few years we did it with his family. It's their tradition and I was more than happy to be included in it. We continued together, in the many years that have passed since we moved from California.

So here we are, after the kids have gone to bed, making pastries together, like we have for the past 12 Christmas seasons.

Some traditions cannot be skipped.