Happy New Year and So Long 2020

 This huge coloring activity from Grandma was a big hit

We've been playing a lot of games since Christmas

Including Mouse Trap

Chess

Don't Drop Chase

Azul

Nixon has also been working hard at all of his new puzzles

Henry (and all the kids) have been enjoying the new cars and tracks

Lyza (and Nixon) has been reading up a storm with all of her new books

We have played in the snow making huge snow balls

One of the joyful parts of the new year is boxing up all of the Christmas decorations

And putting them all back in the crawl space

I got Nixon's drone stuck in a silly spot, which meant having to get the big ladder out

And the kids got turns climbing as high as they felt comfortable

Here is a little video of Henry having fun spinning

What can I say about 2020? It was unique. It was full of firsts. It was full of disappointment. It was almost completely devoid of extended family. It was full of illness (who gets pertussis and shingles in the same year?). It gave us a lot of time together in our home. We did activities in our home that we have never done before like church and school. It put another hat on Kim: homeschooler. I learned to work from home. We took part in the fulfillment of prophecy: In 1987 Wesley from The Princess Bride was asked "Why are you wearing a mask? Were you burned by acid or something like that?" He answered that not only are masks "terribly comfortable," which they clearly aren't, and he also said "I think everyone will be wearing [masks] in the future." He was right.

As I look back on 2020 and forward with hope to 2021 I am very thankful for the practice that Kim and I started six years ago of capturing at least one little video each day to later stitch together and help us remember the year. I remember it was such a chore to take a video every day when we first started. I remember it was technically difficult to shorten the videos that were long and compile them all together at the end. But as I recall the countless hours we have watched that first video and the videos that have followed I am thankful for the memories we have preserved. Our 2020 video is no different. It doesn't showcase the disappointment. It doesn't showcase the fear, illness, or isolation. It highlights the time we spent together, the smiles, the birthdays, the laughs, the spills, the growth, and the good. While it does capture certain unique aspects of 2020, it, like the five videos before it, helps us remember how blessed we are to have each other and the many blessings we enjoy.

2020 was a good year, at least that is the way we choose to remember it.

Enjoy

Happy New Year!