I’m sure most of us had a different Thanksgiving this year. Even though I missed seeing the smiling faces of my extended family, I did enjoy the slower pace and quieter holiday. This seems to sum up 2020 for me fairly well. It’s been different, but I haven’t minded the slower, quieter lifestyle that it’s brought.
Our MOPS & MOMSnext group met online on Monday night. It was our Christmas craft meeting. It’s been an adventure adapting our usual format into an online experience. Our creative team assembled kits so the moms could create a rustic nativity set at home. We did porch pick-ups for the kits and I had a few ladies opt to pick-up from my home. I enjoyed putting on a mask and heading outside for a few minutes to say hello while the ladies loaded up their kits. I’m not a super crafty person, so this craft had me a little nervous. I was so pleased with the end result, though! All I had to do was paint, accessorize, and glue. It’s been fun to see how the other ladies decorated their kits. This experience was definitely a win for our group!
Even though we only did school three days this week, we were able to condense all five days of learning into three, so the boys didn’t miss a day even through they took Thursday off. I love this element of homeschooling. The amount of school is so manageable. It’s been easy to stay on track. I will admit that I am looking forward to Christmas break in a few weeks. We didn’t take a Spring Break in 2020. We worked on summer workbooks all summer expect for one week when we visited Yellowstone (which was like a week long field trip). Our homeschool pace hasn’t led to burn out, but I am still looking forward to having a pause. This mostly comes from my own perspective as the main educator of my children. Mama/Teacher is ready for a break! Just three weeks to vacation! Let the countdown begin!
I’ve been making a list of Christmas activities we might wish to participate in this year. Given current guidelines, most of my ideas center around driving to look at Christmas lights. Our local park puts on a Christmas light drive-thru. We might travel north or south to see a bigger display in one of the larger cities as well. I’m a bit sad that my kiddos won’t be in any Christmas performances this year. Those are always fun memories and sweet photo opportunities. Instead of focusing on community activities, it’s time to focus on Advent (starting this weekend), making Christmas cookies, watching Christmas movies, and doing Christmas crafts. (I went into Hobby Lobby in October thinking I didn’t need anything and came out with Christmas crafts for school – totally justifiable.)
We were able to make one indoor Christmas activity happen today. We visited Santa! It was too tempting to pass up an 2020 photo opportunity of what the holidays really looked like. Santa was not only wearing a mask, but he was also behind a plexiglass shield. We all had our temperatures checked before waiting in a socially distanced line. The boys had to keep their masks on for the photo, so as they “elf” said, they had to “smile with their eyes!” Graham took that advice to heart as you can see in the picture below. The kids asked Santa for a drone and a spy kit. The store sent us off with ornament crafts, packets of hot chocolate, and tiny candy canes.
I don’t know how the next month will pan out. I’m processing that Christmas probably look “different” – just like Thanksgiving. Our family is brainstorming ways to be creative and celebrate safely. 2020 certainly isn’t going to wrap up the way I expected, but I believe it will be filled with goodness, light, love, and plenty of holiday cheer!
Amy Scott's Thoughts 