Christmastime 2020 and Pandemic Update

We are still enduring the Covid-19 pandemic. At this time, there have been 429,000 deaths in the U.S. and 2.16 million deaths worldwide. Thankfully, there is hope on the horizon! In December, the U.S. started distributing vaccines! Kentucky is doing a good job with distribution, but it will still be awhile until everyone wanting the vaccine can get it. They started with healthcare workers and have added other groups of people, such as teachers. Grammy has an appointment for early February and Granddaddy should be able to get the vaccine after he completes his chemotherapy later this year. Bonnie Mom and Grandpa have remained in Key West since September and have not been able to get appointments for the vaccine. We hope they can get appointments soon, since they want to travel back to Louisville. It is estimated that Carl and I will be able to get the vaccine in the fall or winter. It has not yet been approved for children under 16. Other vaccines are being developed and hope that one will be approved for children. 

Christmastime activities looked very different this year, as we are still avoiding crowds, avoiding larger gatherings inside, etc. We missed seeing our extended family in person, but were grateful for technology that still allowed us to celebrate with many of them. We were also grateful for some nice weather, that allowed us to gather outside with the Amshoff family to celebrate Andy's birthday, Alex's birthday, and Christmas.

We enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree and it turned out very pretty!

We celebrated Andy's birthday. He is now 2 years old!

Our gingerbread house turned out great! The boys ate tons of candy and icing.

We had the first snow of the season and it was beautiful! Although there wasn't a lot of snow, Preston managed to make a snow monster!

We took Grammy and Granddaddy to Lights Under Louisville. It was the best one yet!

We are still doing virtual school. Preston's teacher, Mrs. Zapp, dropped off a special holiday treat and the kids had a virtual party! They also had a fun spirit wear, leading up to the holiday break. 

One good think about virtual school is that you can attend class anywhere in the house!

We made sugar cookies from scratch and decorated them. They were super tasty and didn't last for more than 24 hours!

We visited Grammy and Granddaddy. We made cookies and Evan helped Granddaddy put up the Christmas lights outside. 

Although Santa is magic, we didn't want to put his health at risk by visiting him during the pandemic. We were fortunate that Santa was able to visit virtually. Preston LOVED getting to talk to Santa and ask him a bunch of questions. Carl and I enjoyed watching the boys and are especially grateful that Evan is such a good Christmas helper and big brother. 

We didn't get to attend church on Christmas Eve as we normally do, but we still had fun. We watched movies, read stories, and got ready for Santa.

Christmas morning arrived and the boys were up bright and early! They set a record with unwrapping their gifts and we were done in about 20 minutes! We spent the rest of the morning making breakfast and enjoying out beautiful, white Christmas in the hot tub! Grammy and Granddaddy joined us around 1:00 and we opened more gifts and ate lunch together. We also played games and watched a movie. 

Sir Christmas Pants had a great deal of fun this year! Here are  a few pictures of his shenanigans!

We enjoyed ringing in the new year together at home. We ate junk food for dinner, which is always extra exciting for Evan and Preston. We also played lots of games. Goodbye 2020! You were a crazy year! Let's hope 2021 is MUCH better for all of us!

I have been TERRIBLE at keeping the blog updated, because we don't do a lot. I do want to add a couple of good memories from the end of 2020. 

Preston continued virtual karate class and earned his purple belt!

Since we are home so much, Carl learned to make cheese! We have continued to cook some meals totally from scratch and we were able to use the mozzarella cheese we made!

We celebrated 13 years since my cancer diagnosis on December 10th, 2007. It was a low-key celebration at home, but it was nice to be together. I continue to be grateful for my health and I am hopeful that we will be celebrating that Granddaddy is cancer free later this year. 

We also celebrated Alex's 6th birthday outside on our backyard. The kids enjoyed seeing each other, having lunch together, and riding on the golf cart.