What made us think that Christmas 2020 would be just like it always has been??? Like every other Christmas I've had since I can remember ... and that would be a whole lotta years!!!! Of course not..it's the year of the pandemic and everything in all of our lives has changed dramatically. Some good. Some not so good.
But this family is strong and we accept our challenges and do our best to hold each other up, thru thick and thin. This Christmas included!!! Because we have two in our group with underlying conditions, it is of the utmost importance to be careful. The virus is rampant in our area and if staying home, away from large crowds and masking up and distancing is what it will take to keep all 14 of us safe and healthy...then that's what we do.
The night before Christmas Eve!
We always gather on Christmas eve so that my children can visit their other families on Christmas day. It really wasn't until two days before Eve that our plans finalized. We knew we'd have to be outside and here in the south, in December, it can be 75 degrees or it can be 32. Sunny or rainy. So, once the weather man gave us the forecast of clear, sunny but cold and windy.....we went into action! Cap'n completely cleaned out the WW (long story for another day) which is a huge building in our pasture away from the house that Cap'n stores stuff in......as in alot of his collection of army trucks and cars and our RV. It's usually piled high with "man stuff" but he completely cleaned it up for our Christmas eve celebration! And if you wanna call what we had a 'redneck xmas'....we're just fine with that....for we loaded up the back of a 4wheeler with all the food and hauled all the presents down there on a trailer behind the 4wheeler in "sleigh" fashion!!!!!! And it was SO much fun!!



Instead of a sit down meal, we just snacked all day.....Beef tenderloin sandwiches, marinated crab claws, shrimp/artichoke/olive salad, stuffed mushrooms, shrimp butter, tomato/mozzarella tray, chicken salad croissants, meatballs and a huge pot of Cap'n's gumbo....with a whole table full of sweet treats!!
With Cap'n in his kerchief and I in my Christmas apron, we drove the "sleigh" down to the children with a
HO-HO-HO-HO!!!
The kids played under a sunny, azure blue sky and their laughter with each other and finally being together just tickled my heart. I couldn't have asked for a better day together!
Only took the kids a short time to open a trailer load of presents!!
Soon, it was time to bid them all farewell, so they could hurry to bed and let those sugarplums dance in their heads!!
Ms. PoppyPearl and I enjoyed a very cozy night by the fire, with more warmth from our family's Covid Christmas Celebration together, than warmth from the fire!
To wrap up another fun holiday experience, the last night of our Wine Advent Calendar ended with a bottle of the bubbly on Christmas eve!!
We had 24 nights of popping the tops on different types of wine...and calling each other to share thoughts and pics of our nights together!
IT WAS FUN!!!!
Can't end this post without saying Happy Birthday to our little girl.....PoppyPearl! She's one yr old today and I can't imagine what this year would have been like without her. I got her exactly 2 weeks before lockdown began. She's been my best friend at a time when I couldn't see my real life friends and family....