Ok, finally finding a few minutes to sit down and blog about our Pandemic holidays for 2020. Things definitely took more planning & consideration given that we are still in the middle of a global pandemic. Stinking Covid- we are all so tired of it and just want our lives to go back to normal. Hopefully with the roll-out of the new Covid vaccines over the last month, things are finally headed that way! Maybe 2021 holidays will look a little more familiar!
THANKSGIVING
For Thanksgiving we decided we were going to try to drive out to Idaho to see my parents. We weren't able to visit over the summer and I was missing them. We felt like we could be cautious enough that the risk would be minimal and we could enjoy some family time over the holiday. Around this end of October/First of November, things really started going downhill with coronavirus. Numbers and deaths were spiking to all time highs, hospitals were getting overwhelmed, schools went to full-virtual, and governments start issuing State lockdowns again. Utah went to pretty much full lock-down, not allowing gatherings with multiple families. Minnesota did the same. Iowa had restrictions of no more than 2 households or 10-15 people. Things just kept shutting down left and right. Sure that Idaho would soon follow suit, and not wanting to risk putting my parents at risk with skyrocketing numbers, we decided to cancel our trip to Idaho. It was a big bummer. I was looking forward to seeing my family and enjoying a holiday with them, which I haven't done for years.
With those plans cancelled and states pretty much shut-down, we were looking at a pretty bleak Thanksgiving. Up in MN, the original plan had been for Jon's brothers Mike & Mark to get together for Thanksgiving with Jon's parents and for Jon's brother Scott and his wife Allison to fly in from AZ to join them with their daughter Anne- who is living in Rochester going to school right now. When things shut down, Scott and Allison cancelled their flights and flew Anne home to AZ instead. The MN crowd decided it was too risky to all get together with the parents, especially since gatherings with multiple households had been restricted.
About the week before Thanksgiving, Mark called and said since their plans had all fallen through, they were going to come to our house for Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving saved! It ended up being a lot of fun and the kids loved having cousins over and we really enjoyed having other adults to cook, eat, and chat with!
As a side addition to this story, it ended up being a good call to cancel our trip out to Idaho. About 2 days before Thanksgiving, Amberly and Brett found out they had Covid. We had been planning to stop and stay at their house for a couple days before going to my parents'. If we had stuck with the original plan, we would have been there while they were contagious, but before they knew they had it and we could have definitely gotten and spread it! Brett and Amberly got pretty sick for a few days and everyone except Cici ended up getting it but they all recovered, thankfully!
CHRISTMAS
Christmas we had always kind of planned to spend on our own so that wasn't super affected by Covid. The main effects were in all the changes leading up to Christmas. We weren't able to go see Santa or have any Christmas work parties to attend. We weren't able to throw our typical Christmas party with friends we have enjoyed doing each year. We had to do our Christmas shopping just a couple of us at a time, to not drag everyone out at the same time. There wasn't a ward Christmas party or the Stake Christmas concert I enjoyed participating in last year. It was hard to feel all of the usual joy of the season with so many things different, but we tried to focus on family and faith and it was still an enjoyable year.
The kids all got spoiled a bit- we'll call that another Covid effect. Mom and Dad were trying to make up for all of the crappiness of this year with lots of presents.
It was fun having Christmas at our own house. I enjoyed the comfort and control over it, as well as being able to be in my own space and work on my own time line. Once the presents were all done, though, we definitely missed having family around. We haven't decided what we want to do in future years. Maybe we'll keep doing Christmases on our own or maybe we'll do every other year with family!
Colton was really excited to get several large Jurassic World lego sets, some origami, last kids on earth books, a subscription to National Geographic Kids, and some other fun toys. Katie was thrilled about a poloid camera and a hoverboard, as well as clothes, a necklace making kit, and some beanie boos. Zach loved his Shark happy napper and roller blades. He also got a majician hat and wand which he enjoys- but wishes the wand was actually real, haha. Madi got a new baby doll, which she calls her flower baby, a stroller, some other girly toys, and an Anna nightgown, which she never wants to take off. I got jon some clothes, a big octogon of M&Ms like his dads, a file cabinet for his office. Jon got me some clothes, a new fancy backpack, some earrings, some kitchen shears, a toaster, some bath and body works soaps, and more! It was a great year!
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| Zoom Christmas Party I had with my friends. |
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| Picture Katie drew and colored for Santa |
NEW YEARS
We decided to drive up to MN and stay with Mark and Jenna for New Years. It was a break from our usual tradition of doing our own thing for New Years but we figured since we did Christmas on our own, it would be fun to see family for some of the holiday. We got to spend time with all the family up in MN, get some fun late Christmas gifts, go sledding, and enjoy a New Years Eve louder than any other! The kids loved it! We had our usual fondue, cotton candy, and appetizers, and we did a netflix countdown. It was lots of fun!
