The Christmas that Still Was

Christmas in the time of COVID....

It wasn't actually a whole lot different. 

The girls still made a birthday cake for Jesus.

And we still had our lazy-mom-make-your-own-darn-sandwich Christmas Eve dinner.

Jane's sweater put us all in a festive mood. 

The girls got new pajamas and then we went out to go see Christmas lights, stopping at a convenience store along the way for hot chocolate. 

And then made the girls go to bed so we could make the magic of Christmas happen. 

Every year our Christmas tree has one special ornament that represents our travels. For awhile, we thought there wouldn't be a travel ornament for 2020. And, yet, here it is.

Seeing this ornament, instead of the stupid toilet paper and mask one that everybody has, makes me so grateful. I can't express how incredible it was to have a week of magic in the middle of the misery. 

Something else new this year....

I was talking to Chris about how parents don't get stockings and how that kind of makes me sad. We've never had stockings before. So... on Christmas Eve, while I was busy with baking and the like, he went out and saw what Menards had left on the shelf. Because Menards is where you go for Everything. 

Below is the Masterpiece that he found...

right next to Jane and Emily's homemade stockings. They look like medical devices. 

Thanks, Chris, for the very, very sweet thought. 

Christmas morning proceeded as usual.

Emily got a Nintendo Switch and not much else. Because those things are pricey. 

Jane got a million little things and showed disproportionate excitement about every single one. Every hair clip, every backpack pin, every book was met with Joy. 

We rounded out the morning nicely with some cinnamon rolls

and a great deal of Animal Crossing. Christmas ended with a screening of the movie "Soul", which was lovely and fun and sweet. 

It was a delightful day.