Christmas at a Distance

 It was a different Christmas for sure. While some parts were hard, we found beauty in other hours.

Of course, we didn't see much of our families. We opened presents via Zoom on December 23 with my sister and her family. And, like I previously wrote, we met my own parents the weekend before Christmas to put each other's presents in each other's car. The kids each got to unwrap one present in person in front of Grandma and Grandpa, and the rest were done via Facetime on Christmas Eve. Earlier on Christmas Eve we drove to Paul's sister's house, where we opened presents outside, brrrr!

On Christmas itself we scrapped some traditions while maintaining others. Santa still visited overnight (although Edith asked her first questions about whether Mommy and Daddy were behind it all!) and the kids eagerly opened their gifts first thing. The rule: No waking parents up until 7 a.m. They got up about an hour earlier, but managed to wait until the appointment hour.

We still ate biscuits and gravy for brunch, but we had lasagna for supper. In between the meals, we played with our new stuff, watched "March of the Penguins" and, if you were Mommy, took a nap. Not exactly Christmas as we've known it, but not half bad.

Edith got upset at suppertime, partly from the holiday being almost over, partly from all of the changes over the last year. She spoke of her anger about wearing masks almost as much as her sadness that the next Christmas was a whole year away.

Christmas Blues

The closer it gets to Christmas, the worse my mood gets.

I'm trying to put a good face on it all, but the closer it gets to the holiday the harder it is. We're basically keeping all of the annoying parts of the holiday while scrapping everything that makes it fun.

Presents have always been my least favorite part of Christmas, both giving and receiving. It's certainly the most stressful. I don't particularly like to shop, and I don't know what anyone wants aside from my own kids. I'd be perfectly happy if no gifts were exchanged and perfectly content to celebrate Christmas with just family and food.

Except there's none of that this year either. We met my parents in a parking lot halfway between our houses this past weekend to put wrapped presents in each others trunks. We talked outside for a bit before it got too cold and we all drove home. We'll open up presents via FaceTime. I think we're going to open presents with Paul's family outside some evening this week -- not exactly warm and cozy. Sad, actually.

As for food -- with no traditions to hang us up, we ordered a large meal of lasagna, meatballs, soup, green beans, rolls and an apple pie from a local restaurant. Actually, the order keeps up with our 2020 tradition of scrapping all holiday meal traditions since we had chicken tikka masala for both Easter and Thanksgiving.

It'll all be OK of course. We'll open presents, play with gifts, watch a movie. And look toward next year when hopefully everything will be back to normal.

2020 in 20 photos

 What a year. Here are 20 photos that tell its story.

February 24: Atticus gets comfy cozy. COVID was something we knew was going on overseas.

March 4: Atticus at COSI. I heard on the way home that the governor had cancelled a large sports festival in Columbus because of COVID concerns. COSI closed shortly after and hasn't yet reopened.

March 13: Loading up on books before the library shut down. Curbside pickups started many weeks later.

March 17: Time marches on, and Edith lost her two front teeth (one at a time)!

March 27: Buying three weeks of groceries at a time.

April 2: Atticus's 5th birthday. His party was canceled, but our block had a parade for him!

April 8: The best time to learn to ride a bike is when you have to social distance! They both learned on this day.

May 23: Atticus graduated from a toddler bed to a twin, and boy was he happy!

July 19: And not long after, the kids got bunk beds!

August 6: We spent a lot of time outdoors this summer, and both kids started skating. They graduated from these beginner skates to rollerblades!

August 30: Our cruise to Alaska was canceled. Instead, we spent a day outside in Cincinnati and walked to Newport, Kentucky.

September 8: First day of school. No classes inside a school building even to this day.

September 20: Our outdoor time included a visit with Grandma to Prairie Oaks.

September 22: An outdoor-only visit to the conservatory, with masks of course!

October 19: Voting was early and socially distant.

October 21: No classes at school, but we managed a trip to the empty playground!

October 23: Walks in the neighborhood.

October 31: Halloween, with masks incorporated into the costumes.

November 8: We're lucky that our sister-in-law can take our family photo each year!

November 21: Edith's 8th birthday in quarantine and isolation. I tested positive for COVID a few days later.

How to Be in Quarantine

Today is the first day in weeks that all of us are free to go about — no more Covid quarantine!

It’s been rough but could have been worse. Hopefully you won’t ever have to isolate or quarantine, but here are my tips on what you can do to prepare both now and if it happens:

* Don’t run low on the essentials. It was a relief not to worry about our stock of toilet paper and paper towels.

* Do something special (every day, if you can). We had a lot of movie nights with the kids and played more board games than usual.

* Find other ways to socialize. The kids were excited to talk to their friends via Zoom and FaceTime!

* Get some treats. We splurged on one grocery delivery and made sure to order a few things to look forward to (hello, cranberry white cheddar cheese).

* Ask for help. I’m not good at this one, but quarantining made it inevitable. That grocery delivery? I forgot to order milk, but some neighbors dropped off a couple of gallons. One neighbor even picked up the library books we had on reserve.

* Give yourself grace. I didn’t realize how stressed I had been until I realized I forgot to order milk and burst into tears. It’s hard to feel helpless, but it least I knew we weren’t friendless. 

Covid Positive

I had a headache.

I wasn't happy about it, but I wasn't surprised. The nerves connected to one of my front teeth had been bothering me, plus the weather was changing. Sinuses were certainly to blame for the latter, if not for the former too, I thought.

I was tired.

Also not surprising. When I get a headache, I'm definitely sleepier. When I wake up in the morning, everything is fine.

But then a week later I lost my sense of smell.

That worried me, and I had little doubt: I had Covid-19. A test on November 24 confirmed it.

I'm lucky and know it well -- the lack of smell was by far the worst of my symptoms. It's hard to explain. It was there, and then all of a sudden it wasn't. Soap, toothpaste, shampoo, food: no smells. Sometimes a faint whiff, but mostly nada. It was like my nose was "hearing" a melody without the harmony. And then something weird would happen, like when I asked Paul if he had been cutting onions. I couldn't smell them, but my nose was almost tingling. Sure enough, he had. Are phantom smells a things?

As of yesterday, my headache was barely there, I'm not too sleepy and I think my smell is almost completely back (and certainly better than it was a few days ago). I got a cough around Thanksgiving, but nothing worse than any other winter.

Thank goodness the kids have had no symptoms, although we're in quarantine for another week to make sure. Paul had what we assume now were very mild symptoms a day or two before me, so he is planning to get an antibody test. Overall, we've come out of this healthier than I had hoped, although we're not out of the woods yet.

More about our quarantine next week!

8 Is Great: Happy Birthday, Edith!

 

Nothing about Edith's 8th birthday on Saturday went according to plan.

Of course, a big family-wide party was out. I had hoped we could see the lights at the zoo during her birthday weekend (a nice outdoor activity, right?), but that was a no as Covid cases went up in our county. And even a small masked-up outdoor get together was out of the question as I awaited a Covid test (finally scheduled for this morning, so more about that next week).

So birthday No. 8 was spent in quarantine.

But I had the ingredients to bake Edith's cake by special request -- lemon with blueberry frosting -- and we got a pizza delivered. And friends and neighbors dropped off balloons, cards and special treats all day Friday and Saturday. So in many ways, this birthday held the biggest surprises of all, and not all of them were bad.

Election Eyes: Glued to the TV

I've watched more daytime TV in the last week than in the last decade.

I'm not talking soap operas, although you could be excused for mistaking this election for just another Days of Our Lives storyline. But for better or worse, this is real life.

With my newspaper background, I'm not much of a TV news fan. But elections call for the drama of CNN. I couldn't help myself last Monday night -- I snuck it on for a bit after the kids went to bed. On Election Day itself, I miraculously managed to avoid the TV til 6:30.

But all bets were off starting Wednesday. While the kids were in Zoom school, I'd watch with closed captions. During lunch, I'd turn on the sound. And after school was over, it was all news all the time -- basically til I went to bed.

Georgia. Pennsylvania. Nevada. Arizona. My ears were tuned to hear the slightest whisper of these words. And yet when the race was finally called on Saturday, I was outside. Paul handed me his phone: The race was called for Biden. The day (the week! the year!) immediately brightened.

There's no denying that I'm pleased with the results of the presidential election (even if so many other races left something to be desired). But the truly hard work begins now. Here's hoping that we all do our part in good faith to overcome the divisions of the past. And turn off the TV.

Halloween Fun

 

Trick or treat was going to be extra tricky this year. It was scheduled for Thursday last week -- in Columbus, trick or treat is moved to the Thursday before Halloween if October 31 falls on the weekend -- and the day was both cold and rainy. But even before we had seen the weather forecast, we had decided to skip the traditional shebang. We had alternate plans instead.

In response to COVID and social distancing precautions, our block decided to do a parade, outdoor dance party and private trick or treat. Neighbors put their goodies on tables or blankets near the curb, stood back and watched the kids go by. The weather was much better, we could actually see the costumes since it was in the afternoon, and I think the kids had even more fun than usual. Even Darth Vader got his fill of candy (plus some!), and our little witch was thrilled to finally be able to wear the dress and cape that Grandma made!

Fall Day Photos

We’ve been able to take some walks during the lovely fall days - I don’t often get to take photos of us having random fun anymore! 

Casting a Ballot in the Year of Covid

Deciding how I was going to cast a ballot in this year's general election was a bit of a conundrum. I voted absentee for the first time in a long time in the spring -- I think since college. I've never needed to vote early, and nor have I wanted to. I like the excitement of voting on Election Day!

But this year is a different beast. The question wasn't whether I would vote early, but how. I leaned toward an absentee ballot for several weeks but never quite sent in the request. I just didn't want to do it. Then came the questions and doubts about absentee ballots, such as the reliability of the post office and whether the Board of Elections would actually receive it. I could drop it off at the board, that's true. But there's something about going in person ...

Early voting it was.

Paul took Monday off of work, so it was the perfect time for me to go. I was up early, so I decided to get there shortly after the board opened at 8 since Paul would be here to make sure the kids logged into school. I arrived at 8:15 a.m.

So did a million others.

Maybe not quite a million, but it felt like it. People were directing traffic, and I had to park in a lot a half a block away. It took about 5 minutes to find a spot and then another 5 minutes or so to walk to the end of the line. It was 8:26.

Did I mention it was raining?

I wore a raincoat and carried an umbrella. No rain boots, which was a big mistake. I thought the rain would keep the lines short, but no dice. Although the line was entirely outdoors, it luckily continued to move -- certainly faster than any line I've been in at Cedar Point! I was in the building faster than I would have predicted.

I had previously read that Franklin County has 150 voting machines set up, and there was a pleasant hum of excitement. Really, the buzz was just as thrilling as a real Election Day vote. Plus I got my sticker.

Vote cast! (But I bet the mailers will still come.)

 

Feeling Low

I've been feeling pretty down lately. Nothing too serious, or at least nothing that's not to be expected in a year such as this. Winter is about to arrive, which means even less of the already-constrained outdoor socializing we've managed throughout the spring and summer. I've ordered even more masks and a big bag of cord locks so they are comfy. We're in this for the long-haul, and sometimes it's hard to smile.

In-person school -- only two days per week, but still -- isn't going to start next week as was previously announced. Now it's scheduled for two weeks later, and the whole thing is surrounded by controversy. I'm tired, I'm frustrated and there's nothing to look forward to. That last part is the worst of all. I'm the type of person who likes to have my next vacation planned before the nearest one is over. That's tough when vacation was cancelled and not even rescheduled. And it's really hitting home that we're not going to get any type of real trip this year.

In a couple of years (earlier, if we're lucky), this will all seem like a blip in time.  I try not to wish for the future too hard, but that's becoming ever more difficult.

 

Online School to Hybrid

Just as we're getting used to this whole at-home schooling thing, everything's about to change.

Apparently in two weeks the kids will be back in school two days per week. This isn't totally unexpected, just a week and a half early. And it's still not totally set in stone, because our school district announced this without the consent of the teachers' union, which is currently working under a memorandum of understanding.

Setting aside any worries about contracting the virus, the hybrid model has both pros and cons. Pros: The kids will be back in the classroom face-to-face with a teacher, even if only for two days each week. They'll see friends. They won't be on a computer five days per week. Cons: On the three days they aren't in school, they likely will have zero teacher interaction and all online assignments.

Zoom school isn't always fun, but it's better that I thought. We've got a schedule, and I think the kids are even learning to recognize kids that they've never previously met. Here's hoping that things continue to be better than expected.

A Visit to Franklin Park Conservatory with Kids

Last week we visited Franklin Park Conservatory, masks and all. An outdoor section specifically for kids opened in the last year or so, and this was our first time there. We had a blast!

A Sunday Meander

My mother-in-law doesn't live far from a very nice metro park, so we visited it on Sunday for the first time in years. The kids were unsure at first -- a park without a playground? -- but ended up having a wonderful time. Fallen trees are even better than swings and slides!

 

Virtual School Begins

This post is some 13 hours late, so you can tell the first week of school has been a crazy one. But the things that I thought would be difficult aren't, and the things I thought would be a breeze are far from it.

Each day is better than the last, and today was by far the best of all. The kids are really getting the hang of Zoom, and even Atticus can sometimes unmute himself and talk to his teacher before I even reach his computer to help. Edith is surprisingly independent and only sometimes asks for tech assistance. And both kids are engaging and interacting with their teachers, so that's very encouraging.

The hard part is after school. The online portion ends before a regular, in-person day of school would typically end, so Edith often has a few things to work on afterward. She's doing it -- and doing it well -- but it can be difficult to stay motivated. 

I've been extremely happy and impressed with both of their teachers, and overall the school year is going better than I had expected. Hopefully things continue to get easier for the students, the teachers and even the parents, too.