December 2020 Recap

I'm writing this blog post on the last day of July 2021, but I'm looking back at what happened in December 2020. The holiday season is always our favorite, but it looked completely different this year. The coronavirus pandemic meant that we were masking up and not celebrating with family (except via Zoom), so this was a very unique holiday season for us.

Will is not a huge fan of picking out Christmas trees, so Gene and Henry went after school one day and selected the perfect tree for us!

Henry helped set up our outside decorations too.

Cutest kittens

Decorating the tree!

Gene found this selfie on his phone -- enjoying a beer by the tree!

Lunchtime

Snickers sleeping

My assistant got me chocolates for Christmas. Henry might have been more excited than I was!

Hot cocoa to celebrate the first day of winter break

Again, not exactly sure what was going on here!

Special lunch for the beginning of break

and ice cream...

We went hiking at Stephen F. Austin State Park on a pretty day.

It was Uncle Mike's birthday! We couldn't be together, but we made our healthier version of spaghetti a la carbonara with a big green salad. Yum!

Jupiter and Saturn were the closest they'd been since 1623, so we got out our telescope to take a look.  

We did a ton of baking: stollen,

raivas,

suspiros (meringues),

and krumkake!

We also got some Vermont Brownies in the mail from Aunt Amber. So many yummy treats!

Christmas Eve: We opened a few book presents so we could spend the evening reading. Have you heard of Jolabokaflod? It's an Icelandic Christmas Eve tradition, literally translated to "Christmas book flood," where people exchange books and then spend the evening reading. I can't think of anything better!

Boiled codfish for dinner

Bilharacos

Sprinkling oatmeal on the lawn for Santa's reindeer

Cookies for Santa

Christmas Day fun:

Sausage savories and Carolyn's eggs for brekkie

Playing with a new game

The boys got new computers for Christmas!

The aftermath

Gene and I got a little goofy. These are cotton bowl covers that we put on our heads!

Christmas dinner:  ham, standing rib roast, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, green beans, and Yorkshire pudding. What a feast!!

After-dinner treats

We also visited Hermann Park

and made fondue in our new fondue pot!

It was definitely weird not to spend the holidays with family and friends, but it was also a time of rest and relaxation, which we desperately needed at the end of 2020. Let's hope things improve for Christmas 2021.

November 2020 Recap

I'm still catching up with my blog -- writing about November 2020 in July 2021! Much like every other month, we really did out best to keep ourselves safe and healthy, which meant wearing our masks, limiting time with family, and focusing on outdoor activities.  Here's a quick look at our month in pictures:

The weather in Texas is usually pretty nice in November, so we got outside quite a bit. Early morning walks at the Arboretum are always a favorite activity. One of the neatest things about going so frequently was getting to see how the landscape changes with the seasons. There is always something beautiful to find out in nature!

Gene and I took a day off from work and spent the morning at Sheldon Lake State Park with Ruby. 

Ruby was tuckered out afterwards!

Because of Covid, we didn't get to spend much time with family or friends, but Gene took Henry over to Nana and Pop's one afternoon for some outdoor time with the cousins.  

It was also a very tense election season. Henry and I celebrated Biden's victory!

Henry had a day off from school for parent-teacher conferences, so he and Gene went to the zoo. Gene ended up talking to Henry's advisor while at the zoo! Fortunately, even with some distance learning, the boys both did well with school in 2020-2021. 

Here's a little peek at librarian life during a global pandemic: my library was closed to students but I still managed to get books to students by letting them place holds and by rolling carts into classrooms for booktalks and checkouts. It was a ton of work but it was so worth it to get books into the hands of my students! I would start each class period with two full carts, visit 2-3 classes per period, and run back to the library to restock the cart for the next set of classes. I even joined in virtual classes on Zoom to booktalk books on Sora (our ebook/audiobook platform).

Back at home, Gene was in charge of more weekday dinners because the boys and I didn't get home until 5:30 (late Kinkaid athletics). Gene loves to make savory pies for us -- they are so delicious!

Henry went back to in-person art class, and for an after-class treat would sometimes get boba tea from the little shop nearby.  

We sat outside and did some reading in the backyard,

Snickers discovered the joys of the clean laundry basket,

the boys played video games,

and the goats came back to the Arboretum. Obviously we had to go visit.

Snicekers went to the vet. No one likes going to the vet.  

And then it was Thanksgiving break. Dealing with students and worrying about Covid was so stressful that by the time we got to Thanksgiving break, I was worn out and spent several days just relaxing and recovering. And then the weather wasn't great, so we didn't do much with our holiday other than rest up and spend time together.  

This was actually our first Thanksgiving with just the four of us! It was really nice, but of course we missed spending time with family. Will helped make the pumpkin pie. Yum!!

Some funny pet pics:  Ruby loves to sleep this way.

And Orie bites the heads of dragons. #fierce

Will purchased a new video game with early Christmas money from Gramma and Grampa.

And we had fancy waffles for breakfast one morning.

Leftover turkey drumsticks

and another of Gene's delicious meat pies!

We took our annual family pictures in the backyard.

Goofy outtakes

The cats are family too!

That's it for November during a pandemic. It was unlike any other November, but we still had much to be thankful for, especially our family and our health.