Christmas 2020

I originally started this blog because I needed a way to remember life - good and bad - and to write down the bajillion thoughts that popcorn around in my head. I wrote the first post on June 4, 2009. For a while, I blogged often and there have also been times where I've stopped writing all together. The pandemic has actually given me more time to stop and think and jot down a few thoughts. I wanted to take just a few minutes to remember this Christmas. Our granddaughters are so cute right now and I want to remember!

Even though Christmas 2020 was different in many ways, there were some wonderful moments. We decided to go ahead and celebrate with my mother-in-law, who is 95, BUT DO NOT LET HER KNOW THAT YOU KNOW THAT FACT! We stayed away from her for several weeks back in the shut down but she was so lonely that she begged us to come. We've seen her every week at Sunday lunch - yes, she still cooks for her family. Mark has lunch with her one day a week and I've been dropping off Wednesday night suppers from the church when our chef has prepared them. Mark's twin brother goes and checks on her every morning and every afternoon.

We decided that we could safely (hopefully) celebrate with her. We met at her house before lunch on Christmas day and ate lots of good food that we all prepared. We opened presents.

Evie with her new baby doll from great
grandmother - she was rocking the baby!

Emma was sweet - I'm not sure what she is
opening in this photo

My son's favorite family tradition is
this one. The family plays croquet
on Christmas day! My mother-in-law has
a large flat front yard and we've been 
playing all these years. This was THE
COLDEST game of croquet ever. I didn't play
because I was supposed to rock Evie and put 
her down for a nap . . .but yes -- that is Evie
in the cute red coat. Naps didn't happen
on Christmas day. There was too
much going on to sleep!

Emma played this year! Our son-in-law had never
played croquet BUT he plays golf. He whacked it
so hard on his first swing that he broke the
mallet!! Everyone is still chuckling about
his swing!

It is rare to get a photo of the two
of them together since they
live in two different cities.

Emma usually has Pops all to herself and she 
wasn't thrilled with the fact that she
had to share Pops with Evie BUT she
was very sweet. These little girls
love their Pops so very much and
he loves them right back!! If you ask
Emma, "who is the best Barbie player?" 
Her answer is, "pops!" He tells these
wonderful stories and the barbies
act them out!

We celebrated with our children/grandchildren on
December 26. We've done that two years now and
it really works. I hope we can continue that tradition. 
Watching the "kids" (all ages!) open their gifts is much fun.
We had lunch together after opening gifts. 

Not only was there some jealousy between
the girls, but Harvey is usually in either
my lap or Mark's lap and there was
someone else in Mark's lap!

We have multiple parks in our neighborhood
and after lunch, they all loaded up in the
golf cart and went to Emma's favorite 
park. No one texted any pictures of Emma to me!
She likes this park because
there is "bigger" kid stuff.  She was probably
in constant motion so there may not be any
photos of her!! Thank goodness
for little swings, too. It was a cold day again!!

We always eat the leftovers on the Sunday
following Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Laura and Scott and Evie were able
to stay through lunch and we were able
to snap a photo of the oldest and the
youngest together. This is such a special
picture!