A Different Christmas Eve

We had a quiet, relaxing, and fun Christmas Eve. But it felt weird. There was no cousin skating and sledding date, no hurry scurrying because of all the events, no giant family party, and no going to bed so much later than planned. The day just felt so ... anti-climatic. It was really different - and everyone commented on it at some point - but it was a good day. While we are all hopeful that Christmas Eve 2021 will be back to our usual craziness, Christmas Eve 2020 is memorable in its own right.

It was brutally cold (a high of 1 degree), but after lunch, we bundled up to drop off presents at all the cousin houses. Just because we weren't partying with them didn't mean we weren't thinking of them! Fiona had the great idea of making "You've Been Grinched" signs for each of the cousin piles of presents, which turned out so cute. We planned out our delivery route to end near the sledding hill. We might not be sledding with the cousins - but Christmas Eve sledding is still a tradition!

After we traded bags of presents with Liv, off we went (with Auntie in tow) to the sledding hill. It was cold! Auntie headed to the hill with Q and D while I tried to convince F that this was a good plan. By the time I got out of the car, Dec already had a bloody nose. Things were not going particularly well. Then butts went in sleds, sleds went down the hill, and suddenly there were smiles and giggles. Funny how that works! We didn't stay more than 20 minutes, as it was too cold to be out much longer. But it was well worth the effort. Even Fiona would agree.

Everyone needs a Grammy as awesome as Gma J! She knew it would be a strange day for everyone, so she did so much to make it special. Including making a most delicious dinner. So good that we couldn't even eat the apple pie that she and Q had made because we were so full! After dinner was cleaned up, the family band practice from the night before culminated in quite the amazing family recital. Declan, Mike, Fiona, Auntie/me, and Quinn were the headliners. We were quite disappointed that Gma and Gpa didn't break out the accordion and saxophone!

Once the recital was over, the kids got ready for bed, read The Night Before Christmas, made reindeer food, got Santa's cookies and milk ready, and tucked everyone in. Then the rest of us pulled out Telestrations and sat at the dining room table laughing for a couple hours. The day was proof that different does not mean bad - and we all had such appreciation of being together.