2020 in Review: From the Flu to the Lockdown

Christmas 2020 finds our little family smack dab in the middle of our Maryland chapter of life. We have been here a year and a half now, and according to Alan’s orders, we have one and a half years left. Of course, with the Army, you really never know.

What about you? What chapter are you in? Sometimes it helps me feel less overwhelmed when I remind myself that whatever is going on is simply one chapter of a thick book. Things may look bad now, but circumstances are always changing.

Did any of you manage to hire a photographer and send out photo Christmas cards for 2020?

Spoiler alert. We did not. With everyone hiding in their own little huts, I did not have time to meet any photographer people. I may still send out paper cards, but I have not decided yet. There is only one week before our Christmas trip, so time feels kind of short.

But you can call this my Christmas letter. Here we go….

January: Four out of six of us had the flu.

The Army keeps Alan vaccinated, so he was safe. Joshua was protected by the grace of God, that’s really the only explanation. Ironic that we started the pandemic year with the flu. It was a haze of fevers.

February: JD and Daniel played War (with a deck of cards) obsessively. I won “most beautiful cookies” in a valentine cookie contest, and per J.D.’s insistent begging, we added a second basketball goal….

which he NEVER plays with.

I dragged Alan and the boys to Valley Forge in freezing temperatures so we could get the full experience. That is one of my favorite memories.

March: My Israel book was published….

…just in time for no one to be allowed to travel…lovely. Travel books do not sell as well when people are not travelling.

Oh, and yeah, the world fell apart. Schools sent the kids home on the 13th and still haven’t taken them back. (lol)

Actually, at this point virtual school became the over arching them of the year for us. 2020 was all about computer school and learning to deal with it. It was a major adjustment.

April: We started getting 20 school emails/day, and we had Easter service in our pajamas.

May: We embraced swimming in creeks.

June: After one thousand days of warning us, the printer finally ran out of ink.

Also, I finally learned how to use Power Point. I know this is something I *should have* learned twenty years ago, but I managed to dodge it until third grade computer school.

July: I took off for a mom vacation in Florida in the middle of the surge.

Look, sometimes you just gotta do what you just gotta do. It was bliss.

We also took the family to Ocean City, Maryland for the first time.

August: We packed up all the boys and drove to Alabama for two weeks.

September: Virtual school began again. I spent most of September stress paralyzed.

But Joshua got baptized, so there’s one good thing!!!

October: Caleb had a beard, Daniel was a Fortnite dinosaur, and John David was a Creeper.

November: I began to accept my new life as a virtual home school mom.

Yes, it only took me eight months, but all of a sudden–BAM!– I am there! Acceptance achieved.

December: Going to see our families for Christmas again– so long as we can stay healthy. So far so good!

The boys got to open their presents twelve days early, but that is not so unusual for us. You have to celebrate early when you travel on Christmas. It has to be ridiculously early if they want to have time to play with their new toys before Christmas, so they opened gifts yesterday.

The thing about early Christmas was that it felt impossible to be serious about school and work this morning. “Who cares! It’s Christmas!!!” But we buckled down and went to class anyway.

All in all, 2020 was not a total bust. Many good things happened here.

Our family had more time THAN EVER with Alan. Normally, he takes a ton of trips. This year he never left town until November. Plus, he is still working in our room. His office is closed. We see him all the time.

One of my biggest goals for 2020 was “Teach the boys more responsibility.” I had no idea it was going to be such a hands on lesson. Thanks to virtual school, they have definitely made large strides in the responsibility department.

Now maybe for 2021 we will work on “staring at screens less.” I make no promises, honestly.

We made it though, friends! 2020 is all but finished. Time to have turkey and pies again and hope enough of our friends take this vaccination so they will let us back out of our cells!! Ha!!! Wahoo!!!

Merry Christmas, y’all!!