Oh the weather outside is… beautiful.  My daughter is shoveling the walk while I watch from the window of my kitchen, which today has become a sausage factory.  My husband bought 5 pork butts this morning at our pre-storm shopping trip.  And now he is making sausage to put in the freezer.

I have a zoom call scheduled with an old college friend at 4 today.  Then I am making plans with some of my local friends for a zoom call for next week, because with the corona virus pandemic, we can’t actually see each other in person. That’s just the way it is, until a vaccine is out, we are in a lockdown.

The boys are doing fully remote school in their high school and college.  My middle schoolers are in the school building daily for now, but I am assuming that they will soon go remote as well.

The Christmas tree is lit; and wrapped presents are starting to appear under it. Christmas music is on during car rides, and Amazon trucks are delivering presents around the neighborhood.  It is a different Christmas time this year, but a joyful one.

The stockings are in a box by the mantel, waiting to be hung up on Christmas Eve.  The other decorations and candles are spread around the house.  The Christmas train circles the Christmas tree, and the The Christmas Eve and Christmas day dinner menus are planned. 

Since March, we have been in and out of different levels of shut down. It is December now.  A tragic thing happened a month ago, but the end result turned out to be great.  Bepa (Grandpa Jeff) broke his ankle, so he has been staying at our house.  It has been great to have him here.  Everyone has taken turns having long talks about life with Bepa, and we all enjoy spending time with him.

As 2020 comes to an end, I am looking at its blessings more than its hardships. As far as family time goes, it has been a banner year.  I almost don’t want it to go back to our “normal” fast paced life.  I will take a few more weeks of 2020 life for now.