Every single holiday was turned on its head this year. The pandemic was still in full force - working from home, lots of restrictions, mask wearing, social distancing...time begins to lose its meaning as days all look the same. So this year, with all the turmoil going on in the world, it was especially important to keep the spirits bright.
I've never been a huge Halloween person. In the past I would watch a few scary movies and call it a day. But with a little baby in the house, it was basically mandatory we participate this year. We dressed Claire up like a pineapple and decided to make the holiday as fun for her as we could. She had a Zoom Halloween party in her daycare room and we took her to a drive-thru spooktacular. While I doubt she knew what was going on, she looked adorable and her smiley face was enough to brighten the spirits.
Typically, Alex and I alternate spending Thanksgiving with his family or my mom's best friend's family out east on Long Island. Obviously that didn't happen this year for many reasons. My mom's best friend Suzanne passed away this past May suddenly (I'm still processing the grief of this loss as we've not been able to gather together to properly mourn. Plus the pandemic prevents us from being inside for any period of time without a mask on. So that meant Thanksgiving would be just me, Alex, and Claire. I used to take part in cooking the entire meal and in recent years I have baked pies for dessert. This year, I did zero cooking or baking for the first time in my life. Instead we spent Thanksgiving watching a ton of TV - the parade followed by the dog show, ate a delicious meal catered by Beach Point, and took a nice long walk around the Upper East Side. Claire tried turkey for the first time and was unimpressed but all around the day was relaxing and I was especially grateful to have my family together and healthy.
This Hanukkah was by far the most exciting one of our lives this year - our first with Claire! We lit the candles, said the prayers, and watched the menorah. We have 2 menorah's - one that's particularly meaningful to me because it was my father's and another gifted to us by the rabbi who officiated our wedding (she's also Alex's cousin!). We alternated lighting each of them this year and it was a very lovely way to honor traditions past and future. I enjoyed showering Claire with presents - winter gear, board books, toys, clothes. She was mesmerized by the candles and truly watched them until they burned out completely each night. We even managed to light the candles for 6 out of the 8 nights which, with an infant in the house, I take as a huge win. It was an overall joy.
We're not Christian but we definitely have a tradition around Christmas! Christmas Eve is usually spent at my mom's house with a delicious seafood dinner followed by a gift exchange. With COVID still in full swing, and since my mom has cancer, and with an infant, we were very hesitant to spend a significant amount of time indoors with the whole family. Instead, my brother played the role of Santa dropping off gifts at our home and picking up gifts to bring back to Long Island.
In recent past, Alex and I have rung in the New Year while on vacation but this year, we obviously were not traveling. Instead, we drank some champagne cocktails, watched Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve, and hung out in the living room with our baby asleep in her bedroom. We made it to 10:30PM which was an A+ in my book!
As we begin 2021, I am not setting any New Years Resolutions. I've been big on them in the past, setting ambitious goals or fun projects to work on. But this year, I just aim to be flexible. And to bend and sway with the changing winds that keep getting blown our way.
