2021

I've never been so happy to see a new year roll in! I have high hopes for 2021 (or my bar is now really, really low).

We survived an entire year's worth of non-traditional holidays.  It was my first Christmas Eve without our traditional family party at my mom's, Christmas without having dinner with my parents, New Year's Eve and New Years at home instead of with the parents.  It was certainly different but not terrible.  Though we weren't physically together on the days that we typically are, we were still able to communicate with each other.  It was nice to be able to stay inside with the animals and the immediate family for the first time.

We were able to get together with my parents for the holidays--just not exactly on the holidays.  We all quarantined for ten days, so we could spend two days together.  Our first day together was "Christmas", and the second days was "New Year's Eve".  We ate good food and played games together both days and have an absolutely lovely time.  We haven't been together in each others' homes since March.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend time with Dej & Chris, because they are working and couldn't take enough time off to quarantine.  We were still able to talk of course, and they came to drop off and pick up gifts.  Dej brought us all food--the best gift of all. :)  She may gyros for Mark, empanadas  and magic bars for me, and cinnamon rolls for her sister.  Everything was delicious--she makes such good food!

So though the holidays were very different and rather distant, they were still full of family and love.

One of the great epiphanies of old age I've had recently is the knowledge that nothing bad has ever happened to me, so I have to believe that will continue.  It's not that I haven't had tragedy, loss, stress, etc.  It's that, with the passage of time and acquisition of wisdom, I can see that even the things that felt like the worst had some benefits--I learned something important, it made me stronger, in some way or another, every really "bad" thing had some positives to offset the negatives.  This year with Covid has been the same.  While we've lost many things and endured great stress and uncertainty, we've also been able to slow down, have more time with each other and our animals, and focus on what's really important to us in life--the relationships we have with each other and ourselves.

Much love and wisdom to you all in this new year, and may you all have a warm snuggle buddy to keep you warm!