I wasn't prepared to let covid take everything. I am a fan of outdoors. Fresh air. So why can't we carol?
No bus. That's fine. We went in individual cars. We didn't go in. No problem. Our numbers were smaller, and our route was condensed, (thank God!)
But it was nice.
Simple, short, easy.
We brought delight, (maybe), to some friends that may have felt down. Most of our patrons were older, and probably deaf. But in hindsight, that's probably a good thing.
Well, we are home. This is probably the only year we "started" Christmas early. We did. We decorated the house the weekend before Thanksgiving. We threw out the pumpkins. Cleared away the leaves, yes, even the leaves inside the house for decoration.
We hauled out the boxes. The following weekend (after Thanksgiving) we got our tree. It was the fattest tree. Not the prettiest...but we found it kind of hilarious.
We neglected to put up the village or train for obvious four-legged reasons.
So one day I was at work, and I received a text message. "I think I just bought a dog." From Jeff.
We had been looking for months, for the perfect dog. No luck. I wanted a rescue dog.
Okay.
Turns out he (and Dyleva) were going to check the dog out the day after my birthday.
I had to work that day. I played dumb. Bought the supplies. Then I received a very excited phone call. They were so excited!!!
I arrived home to an entourage. All excited visitors to see the new puppy!
We spent the night brainstorming names. Eva wanted Bowie, Winston. Dylan wanted Buddy. Jeff wanted Ripple or Charlie. I liked Flurry, Stanley, Scrimage.
We decided to sleep on Gizmo Zamboni.
It's election night. We are all a little on edge. I let Dyleva stay up later to watch some of the electoral votes come in.
Time for bed. Dylan started asking me about testing for coronavirus. I explained that I think it is a swab up the nose, which for me would be painful. Dylan is silent for a minute and says, "Mommy, you are a daisy. You are delicate." He waits a minute longer, and says, "Daddy is a tree. He has bark." Thinking of the times he is bleeding and doesn't even realize it.
He continues, "Eva is a sprout."
I agreed that Eva is pretty tough. She did ride a bike this summer for 3 miles with a broken arm.
And then Dylan said, "I am a weed."
"Why is that?" I asked, surprised.
"Because," he said thoughtfully. "When I get cut down, I come right back."
Nice, Dyl.
Especially in autumn!
We chose the most beautiful weekend to go!
We arrived in the dark. It is so much easier when you cabin camp! We quickly set up camp. I made the ninos all dinner. It was incedeibly cold; but the minute I began the stove, it heated the entire cabin!
I had a really good feeling from the beginning. I loved the site; the atmosphere; the mood.
Dyleva were just so excited to be with their cousins.
We eventually received a wood delivery and then began a huge bonfire.
What we didn't realize the night we arrived, was that we were on the bank of a creek. The cousins spent basically the entirity of the trip in the creek.
We hiked several hikes! We rode the bicycles on their beautiful paths! But again, the kids loved the creek more than anything!
It has been a wild ride dealing with coronavirus. Rules, masks, gathering, social distancing.
We have chosen our festive moments wisely. Including our reduced number Halloween gathering this year.
We have visited the pumpkin farm a couple times this year. Not as many as normal. But ironically it has been busier than normal.
Dyleva and I visited Betsy's grave and had a graveyard smash.
Our party this year only had 10 friends (as opposed to 30). We added some new games; took away a couple old ones. But in the end the hits were Jeff and his 4 wheeler in the Spooky Forest and Eva's Karaoke.
