Merry Christmas and a Happy 2020 Done

2020 is over. I can’t say I’m sad to see it go.

My dad has relocated to BC for the winter and has been living with us since mid December. We’ve been really happy to have him. Visiting family wasn’t going to happen this year, so having a family member move in with us was the next best thing. The rest of our family we’ve only seen over Zoom calls, and it’s just not the same.

Christmas was a little different this year, but we still managed some festive joy. We had a traditional Ukrainian Christmas Eve dinner with borscht, perogies, and cabbage rolls. Astrid had a great time opening presents on Christmas morning. She was definitely more excited about presents this year than she ever has been. She even had a request for Santa: “different kind of Elsa dresses. I want an iPad too”.

I’m happy to report that Astrid got her wishes, and way too many Frozen and Disney Princess toys. My dad got a NYT crossword subscription and we do the puzzles together every day. Emily got wireless earbuds. And I got an awesome sweater and a cast-iron waffle maker that has made delicious breakfasts every weekend since Christmas.

We did a few calls with extended family and one physically distanced visit in a park. When the weather has been nice, we’ve managed to get outside for bike rides and hikes.

For New Year’s Eve, we played some Jackbox Games with Kerry and Megan, and let Astrid stay up as late as she could with the Tangled movie (featuring Rapunzel) as entertainment. At 9 PM we did a count down watching the ball drop in nearly empty New York City streets (a depressing celebration to end the year). Astrid fell asleep around 10 PM and I barely made it to midnight when all the neighbourhood fireworks started going off.

Here’s to a brighter 2021.

November 2020 Photo Album