I was SOOOOO excited for Christmas this year…the new house all decked out in all its stunning Christmas glory. (and HERE) It was the first year in years that the entire family would be here Christmas morning. It was our first year without Mom so being surrounded by family was super important.

Then the “2020 curse” hit. Brian tested positive for Covid the Tuesday before Christmas. Sarah and Ashton were already here so they immediately packed up and went home to quarantine for two weeks. Mitchell had driven in from Phoenix so he was kind of stuck. Brian immediately went to bed and could not have ventured out of the bedroom if he had wanted too. I wore a mask in the house and Mitchell and I “social distanced” in my own home.

Mitchell finally went home Saturday and it hit me like a train Monday morning. I spent 5 days in bed wondering if this would be the point in my life when I would start wetting the bed. I was exhausted!!!

Christmas…the most wonderful time of the year.

Not so much this year.

My oldest grandson couldn’t go home for Christmas and my son-in-law stayed in their camper for two weeks because Sarah and Ashton were quarantining after being here. Christmas morning I watched Sarah and her family open gifts on Zoom. Christmas day Mitchell and I opened presents alone….we had to stay across the room from each other and wear masks…no hugs. Matt and Hannah came over and got one gift each and opened them in the front yard while I watched from the window. This past week we finally felt well enough to celebrate Christmas with the local kiddos. Matt and Hannah and our grandpup Piper. Brandon and Taylor and our grandpups Zia and Zoey. I made them all wear their pajamas…I made a few crockpots of soups and chowders and a few desserts.

Katie will be here this weekend…she and her boyfriend had to cancel their trip home for Christmas and spent the day alone in their apartment.

The whole thing made me sad.

Time to buckle down and focus on the positive.

That is ALL I could do to keep from feeling totally overwhelmed with the “grief” of losing what I just knew would be a wonderful day filled with all the magic of a Christmas with ALL my kids. Last year was so difficult because two of the kids were missing. This year Mom would be missing so I was really focused on the fact that ALL our kids would be home and we have a beautiful new home to celebrate in.

So what are the positives…

1) Been there done that…we are finally able to go back to eating out without the fear of catching this blasted virus. We use to go out for breakfast every Saturday morning but had to stop last March.

2) No more “living in fear.” As I have shared numerous times, I believe “fear” can destroy our happiness and cripple our ability to live life to its fullest. While we still wear our masks in public because it is a state mandate, we no longer have to “fear” catching the virus. We’ve had it and we survived.

3) We survived. While I strongly believe the odds are greatly in your favor of making a full recovery, the media has drilled it in our heads that this has the potential to be a crippling and even deadly illness. So the fact that we both came out of it with nothing but some residual fatigue is a positive!

4) None of our family caught it from us. That alone is a miracle and something I am soooo grateful for! This virus is a “flu” and if you have ever had a full blown case of the flu you know it is NOT fun! I am soooo grateful we didn’t infect people we love.

I certainly wouldn’t encourage one to go out and intentionally get this thing, but now I feel like we can begin to live our lives with a tad bit of normalcy again. And while it crippled our Christmas this year, I now have a bit of hope that NEXT year will be better!

All this whining to say…I want to start some projects but right now all I can do is walk around an THINK about it.

So what next? Well it is a bit cold to be projecting outside. Even so, I am chomping at the bit to start landscaping this yard…I think I already have the entire yard landscaped in my mind!

The house…now that all the Fall and Christmas decor is down, the house just seems so “blah.” But now I can start thinking about what I want to work on next.

The entry….

…it needs SOMETHING. Not sure what but it will get some froo-froo. Certainly a rug…maybe a little board and batten.

The living room and den…

…I know for certain I want new paddle fans and SOMETHING with the fireplaces.

The breakfast room…

…I know all the windows need window treatments. My vision is wood tone Roman shades and white curtains.

The dining room…

…I have NO idea but it desperately needs something!

The kitchen….

…I’m pretty happy with the kitchen. I may do something different in the pantry but not sure yet.

Then there is the trim in the bedroom and office that still needs to be painted. The bathroom and laundry room cabinets I think I might want to paint. The all season room ceiling I might want to paint.

So I have a lot of projects I think I want to do…I just have to get focused. Right now the energy level is still lacking a bit and as I said, the best I can do is walk around and think…and maybe that is a good thing. Sometimes the longer I “look and think” the happier I am with the results.

So here is to 2021…may we all have a better year. Healthier, happier and more productive.

No concrete goals but sometimes just working towards a “concept” is a good thing!