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.