Even Covid can't stop Christmas! After a year that was strange, and yet somehow not wildly different, I think we all expected Christmas to be equally weird. But it wasn't entirely. Here's the breakdown:
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| We like to learn Christmas traditions around the world, and this year we celebrated St. Nicholas Day! Naomi (and Elise) made this cute St. Nick ornament. |
Years past: Christmas crafts. Every year we make crafts, usually on a large scale for family members, and on a small scale for home decoration. This year: We'd learned how to make yo-yo Christmas trees in a sewing class so we ramped up production, and with everyone helping, made a whole bunch. We distributed them before Christmas instead of making people wait. And we substituted a really cool set of Scrabble coasters that we also made for one tree, the trees being somewhat girly. Done. Naomi, especially, also made the occasional Christmas craft, as is common, and we made a ton of crafty cards for a nursing home. The only real difference in our crafting was the fact that I also made fun Christmas face masks and a Covid Christmas ornament (a gingerbread man wearing a face mask--super cute!). Because I refuse to hang a toilet paper ornament on the tree, or anything that whines too much.
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| Spread cheer, not Covid. |
Years past: Christmas caroling. Usually we find a way to go caroling at a nursing home with a group. This year: We realized that caroling is really an outdoor activity anyway, and that nursing homes have windows. I organized an outdoor caroling event in early December. The weather was nice enough that many residents were able to listen to our singing through cracked windows or even on balconies. We sang at the tops of our lungs through masks, and thanks to some really enthusiastic girls, I think the residents were able to hear us! We also stuck homemade cards in baggies to the outsides of windows to be quarantined for a couple days before being brought inside. We were thanked through happy tears--apparently no one else thought of this and the residents have been somewhat neglected by the outside world.
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| Naomi ready for the Zoom piano recital. The puppies totally distracted her about 1 note from the end of Away in a Manger! |
Years past: Christmas performances. Whether a tiny ballet showcase or a large-scale production, we always have something to watch our kids perform in at Christmas. This year: We enjoyed a piano and voice recital via Zoom, and the fact that many family members were also able to watch. Two of us loved seeing Kalina's orchestra concert in person, while the rest watched from home. While we regretted not being able to attend more things in person, we counted all our blessings that Covid hadn't hit while Elise was acting in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever or Kalina was dancing in The Nutcracker.
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| We rolled beeswax candles and Kalina made the advent box with Matt! |
Years past: The Nutcracker. A contingent of our family has always attended a version of the Nutcracker ever since Kalina was about 3. She's always loved it (and sat remarkably still even at a tiny age--even now I'm astonished she was able to soak it in that young!), and so have her sisters. We've seen productions both large and small, and some that mirror the Nutcracker but change the plot. It's all been amazing. This year: As we were studying Christmas around the world, we remembered that the Nutcracker ballet was born in Russia. A quick Google search found us tickets to the Moscow Ballet, from the comfort of our own couch. Best part--in our pajamas if we wish! (Kalina loves the Nutcracker, hates getting dressed up--and her sisters don't always love it, either.) So we carried on the tradition with one of the best ballet companies in the world--not bad! We watched it New Years Eve because we, amazingly, ran out of time before then.
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Years past: Cookies. We always bake a variety, and often deliver them to neighbors. This year: We cleared this activity ahead of time with the neighbors, so no one felt uncomfortable receiving anything. We also took extra precautions while preparing the cookies. And as most have stayed with us, we've paced ourselves as we've worked our way through them. Yum!
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| The perfect tree amid rows of perfect trees. Piney goodness! |
Years past: Christmas tree. We usually get a tree at a store. We used to visit a farmer's market, until we realized that they really were waayyyy cheaper and not too much less fun at Lowe's, plus a good compromise to stop Matt from throwing in the towel and buying artificial. This year: Actually, this story starts more than a decade ago, pre-kids, when Matt and I made several attempts to chop down our own Christmas tree at various farms in North Carolina. We never found one that would really work--even with all my sentimentality, and turning the scraggly side to the wall, I just couldn't accept any of the twiggy beasts we'd deemed the "most workable trees in the entire field" into my home. So we gave up. But last year, when Matt read an article about Christmas tree farms during the holidays, he decided of his own accord we should give it another try (knowing, of course, I'd hop right on board--just as though I'd suggested to him we spend the day fishing).
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| Kind of a hodge- podge, but beautiful to us for all the memories the ornaments hold! |
I set a reminder on my phone, not that I was likely to forget this promise. In an amazing turn of events, Christmas-tree-chopping lined up perfectly with our Covid avoidance strategy, so we found a farm and made the trip. Apparently Christmas trees grow much, much better in Kansas than in North Carolina, because within 5 minutes we'd found dozens of workable trees. We could've had one chopped and been on our way in under 20 minutes. However, not only did I want to maximize the time spent strolling among Christmas trees, I also was on a mission to find a white pine that would be full enough for our tastes.
It turns out that all the naysaying the kids were doing was correct: there was not a white pine full enough to hold all our ornaments and fill out that corner of our room. Maybe they don't exist. In the meantime, we did find our perfect Christmas tree, plenty large and not too sharp (another requirement of the girls). Matt did most of the sawing, but Kalina and Elise helped.
Christmas tree and all, we were loaded onto a hayride where we met an astronaut. Of all the randomness. He'd been in space several times. He's friends with the Christmas tree farm owner and helps out every opening weekend (except next year he'll be a little inconvenienced by a trip to the ISS, and might not be able to make the round trip).
I sense a new family tradition has been born! Add that to the list of highs for 2020.
Years past: Christmas movies. When the kids were really little, we usually watched a Veggie Tales Christmas show several times per season and called it good. More recently, we've traded the repetition for variety and we've found some favorites, including Elf (debuted for us last year), Rudolph (which Matt--if he watches--and I have to bite our tongue to keep from making snarky comments about and so destroy the Christmas magic) The Muppets Christmas Carol (which Naomi still doesn't like much, and probably won't for a few years), Arthur Christmas (which is probably about the only cartoon Matt sits in for because it's pretty hilarious even for grownups) and The Star (which we first saw in a theater and is just really well done for a humorous Christmas movie about the nativity). This year: With all our free evenings, we managed to squeeze in a couple extra movies, including a newer but not-Jim-Carrey version of The Grinch. This did require careful planning using a dry erase board, but we managed. Matt and I also screened a couple that have been popular in their day (the 90s and early 2000s) but were mildly amusing nowadays at best. At least compared to Elf.
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| Elise is the second angel from the right! |
Possibly the biggest hit this season My Sweet Holiday, a Hallmark-turned-Lifetime movie that Elise starred in. Okay, so maybe she didn't star, but she did appear, as did Naomi, Kalina, and I if you really squint. Elise's scene was truly the best part of the whole movie, unless you count the scenes in which they're demonstrating how to make yummy chocolates. We were mostly just really relieved she made it in, as depending on the camera angle, that was not a guarantee by any means. I'd promised her the large treat of her choice to share if the rest of us made an appearance but she didn't. Although I think we would've had to take a rain check on it judging by the number of Christmas cookies in the house.
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| A chilly, but surprisngly nice night at the Arboretum! The masks kept us warm, and I'm considering creating a fleece-lined variety. |
Years past: Lights. We always find time to drive through a variety of displays. This year: It's the perfect social-distancing activity! We visited two outdoor display, masked and outdoors--one with our AHG troop and the other at the Arboretum, plus Matt was even more willing than usual to trek around town. We did not, however, spend 3 hours in line for a larger display, as we did last year. Sure, we have extra time on our hands. But maybe still not that much extra time.
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| Merry Christmas!! |
Years past: presents. Generally, I dislike Christmas shopping much before Thanksgiving--although I'm occasionally ensnared by a rare find or a good deal. Shopping is usually finished before Christmas week, which is when all the wrapping happens. This year: Having heard that mail and package carriers would be overwhelmed, and goods would be in short supply (have we not all learned our lesson with the giant toilet paper mess of March 2020?), I resolved shop as early as possible. Instead of hiding all the toy catalogs that arrived shortly after Halloween, I instead handed them over to the girls encouraged them to go ahead and make their lists ASAP if they wanted any say in what they received. It wasn't until weeks later that I was handed final versions, but fortunately I know my kids.
I wasn't finished by Thanksgiving, but a lot of the packages were at least in the mail. Ironically, I didn't check the last box until a day or two before Christmas--because even during Covid last-minute gifts get added in or switched around. The tricky part was monitoring the package arrival. Due to a couple issues, I double-ordered one, and had to reorder another. Only one gift arrived late--and it was waiting on our step the morning of December 26. So in the end, the kids' Christmas haul was pretty good!
Years past: Seeing Santa. We usually manage a visit with the jolly old elf in some way--although this is never a major highlight for the girls (the don't always see the appeal of talking to a total stranger, even if that stranger is "Santa Claus"). Still, we have fun with it. This year: I'm sure there would've been creative options if we'd looked hard enough, but I was ready to pass until a (not at all uncool) neighbor dropped off some Santa, reindeer, and Christmas tree cat costumes for us to borrow. So the girls each had a 60-second spotlight with "Santa Claws," as represented by both cats because even the calmer one got grumpy after a minute or two. We loved this arrangement (see how the girls are even a little dressed up?), but the cats are rreeaaallly hoping Santa's back in person next year.
Years past: Christmas Eve. Usually, we scramble around finishing up last-minute tasks, before everything halts to a standstill as our tires squeal out of the driveway, in our rush to church. Because we're invariably all on edge from having to dress up and make it out the door on time to get seats together. This year: We'd actually had a little more time to choose and coordinate outfits, to the extent that Elise and I dressed alike (don't worry--no one was left out who didn't want to be, and Easter matching will be much more Naomi's style, anyway), and Naomi actually wasn't freaked out about her shoes. That felt amazing.
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| Matt always cracks jokes as the shutter is about to click, making us all laugh and getting natural smiles. Also, Matt's gift to me of a tripod is totally earning its keep this year. |
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| Elise calls them our poinsettia dresses. |
On the way to and from, we drove past several drive-up or drive-through services that looked pretty fun, and didn't get caught in the traffic of the gigantic church near us because it was holding services entirely online. We enjoyed seeing the variety of responses, and the creativity and care churches showed for the variety of people they serve.
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| Matt traditionally recites Twas the Night Before Christmas to the girls every Christmas Eve. They check him to make sure he gets it right. |
And we were grateful to see people when and where we could, with a fun Zoom meeting with the Odegaard-Stoutenborough branch of the family on Christmas morning (which included some adorable one-liners from the cousins!), and seeing Grandpa and Marianne from a distance and outside Christmas day.
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| Zoom only made our Secret Santa more mysterious... |
We also got to try out a Secret Santa with the Hanks side of the family for the first time, and opened the gifts via Zoom. The best part was possibly when Naomi gave Matt a worm farm, or possibly when Matt gave Naomi an automatic flopping fish to use with the cats. Although Kalina would say the best part was the convoluted clue she was given as to the identity of her secret Santa--and it'd be hard to disagree.
And we did finally get to see Grandpa and Marianne and spend a nice afternoon of hot chocolate, hot chocolate cookies, snow, and presents. Not a bad wrap-up to our Christmas break! (Pictures not included (yet), I think because I'm out of space in my Google account--yikes.)
Years past: New Years. For the past few years, we've spent the evening with friends, either actually staying up until midnight (last year) or setting the clock ahead a couple hours and celebrating at a more manageable hour. This year: The girls insisted on midnight, even though, or possibly because, we wouldn't be seeing friends. I'm pretty easily convinced to kick back for a long evening of snacks, movies and board games, and my kids don't get (super) cranky from lack of sleep, so they won me over. Not so Matt, but he made it for a while!
Having not had to cook any New Years meals for as long as I can remember, and totally not in the mood for fancy meats or anything requiring effort, I decided that cheese fondue could make a fantastic debut in our house that evening. I ran to Wal-Mart for cheese and party supplies (which they conveniently provided in one of those party-in-a-box kits). Yes, our evening was somewhat reliant on Wal-Mart cheese, but in all fairness, the one 5 minutes away is the nicest I've ever been in. People in $400,000 houses not far from us routinely grocery shop there. So I could trust it, too.
We decided after I returned that the ultimate dipper would be hot pretzels but alas, I'd neglected to pick any up from the frozen section of the store! What would we do?!? Elise and her new cookbook to the rescue! She'd seen a recipe for them she'd been wanting to try anyway, and as we had nearly 3 hours until dinner, it just made sense!
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| Elise and her magical baking book! |
We cooked it all up, and pretty soon, we were wrangling cheese strings up to the chandelier (not pictured, also due to Google space restrictions), and chowing down on Elise's amazing pretzels (which I think were a bigger hit even than the fondue). When we all hit the "wall of cheese," as Matt dubbed it, we attempted to calculate how many ounces we'd each eaten. Although we would've guessed a good half-pound, we'd actually probably barely consumed that much even as a group. So we're good, right?
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| Even the cats opened a present! (ignore the random finger) The girls had wrapped it with treats scattered in the paper. |
The rest of the evening was spent blowing New Year's horns. Less so, finishing music practice that had been neglected earlier while I caught up with Aunt Nancy before her outdated phone presumably expired, playing games, saying goodnight to Matt, and then watching the Moscow ballet. And that's honestly about all it took. In the 15 minutes before midnight, everyone scrambled around writing in diaries and gathering stuffies for bed. We watched the ball drop, enjoyed some sparkling grape juice while Pentatonix sang Auld Lang Syne, blew our horns some more (in the basement, because at least one of us was trying not to wake Matt), and popped some confetti poppers.
Then we spent the next 20 minutes brushing teeth and being forced to wind down under threat of getting sent to sleep on the floor in another room. Because Mommy was ready to be done Mommying, lovely evening though it had been.
The next day, everyone except Matt slept until close to 8:00, and we only endured one bout of irrational grumpiness brought on by fatigue, and it was relatively easily soothed.
Although we're hopeful that in 2021 we'll be able to see more people and inch closer to "normal," we can't say 2020 has been such a bad one for our little family. We built lots of character, put our creative resourcefulness to good use, learned a lot about loving your neighbor, and had tons of fun along the way. We know that's not the story for everyone, but God has been good to our family and we can't complain (nearly as much as other can, anyway). It's been a pretty pretty good year.
Nevertheless, on top of our list of New Year's resolutions is to see people more, and/or see more people, in 2021! When it gets warm, that is....
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