Christmas 2020

Christmas this year was unlike any other we have ever had. With all of our children living out of state and not being able to gather as extended family due to COVID 19 restrictions, we spent the Christmas holiday pretty much by ourselves. Our only visitors inside our house were some of our favorite YSA ladies (Kim, Amanda, & Corine) from South Jordan who surprised Matt with caroling at our door. We invited them in, with us all wearing masks, and had a nice catch-up chat. They were so sweet to think of us and come down to Provo to see us.

I picked out this ornament for us and our kids. I thought it was quite appropriate for 2020!

As I said in a previous post, all of the neighbor gifts we received really made us happy and brightened our holiday season. Another thing that helped me find joy this month was reading a couple of Christmas books to Piper on Marco Polo. Matt even got in on the fun and read her "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". She loved them all and would send me back a message saying, "A new book, Grammie." I plan to read her one every month this coming year. I hope it doesn't get old for her. Here's a picture Chelsea sent me. Piper loves finger paint lately.

I love this new faux garland I bought this year at Sun River Gardens! It looks so real and fresh. It was worth the $80. I'll have it for years to come.

I got a little teary eyed when I was putting up Christmas decorations this year by myself and especially when I decided to only hang our two stockings. But it helped me to embrace this new stage in our lives. It's gonna be mostly just the two of us from now on. And being with Matt makes me happy and feel loved, and that's a really good thing. We went on a couple of car rides to look at Christmas lights through the foothills of Provo. There are some pretty spectacular ones around here. We also went to the Riverwoods and admired the lights there. This year, Santa sits behind a plastic wall and is six feet away from the little kiddos who come to see him. That's so 2020.

A few days before Christmas, on the 21st which was the winter solstice, we sat in the parking lot of the Provo Temple and witnessed the rare "Christmas Star". It was when Jupiter and Saturn appeared to come super close together and looking like they joined and formed a large star in the sky. Experts say that this hasn't happened in over 400 years. It was in the lower south western sky and was the first "star" to appear right after sunset. This picture Matt took doesn't allow it to show up very well. It really was much brighter especially as it got darker. But I love this picture ayway because of the silhoutte of these older people in front of our car. This heavenly light that appeared on the darkest day of the year reminded me of Christ who is the Light of the World.

On Christmas Eve, we had a traditional ham dinner by candlelight and then watched a Christmas movie together.

On Christmas morning, we opened our gifts from our family and from each other while Christmas music played in the background like we've always done. It was quiet and quick, but I was happy to be with Matt. My fav gift from Matt were warm wool slippers. Matt's fav gift from me was a bidet! And that's no joke HaHa! We drank hot spiced cider and made buttermilk pancakes and yummy bacon. Then we decorated a little village of gingerbread houses and decided that we'd make that a tradition in years to come. We had a family Zoom call with all of our children. It was the best having us all "together". I miss them all and am so grateful we love each other.