And so, this is Christmas

2020. A year of firsts. . . and seconds. . .and thirds. . . and fourths.

2020. A year of fourths. The fourth Christmas after. The fourth Christmas of wondering how we got here.

2020. A year of thirds. The third year that we have a Tristan in the family instead of an Anna. This is the third year that the infamous Christmas stocking hung on the mantle with Anna covered up a ribbon embroidered with Tristan.

2020. A year of seconds. For the second year in a row, I didn’t see my youngest on Christmas Day. Like last year, Tristan worked on Christmas Day this year. Starbucks is non-negotiable, even on Christmas Day; some people need their fix 365 days a year. We did our Christmas with Tristan a week early, Italian take-out and all. And for the second time, there were no kids in our Christmas card photo.

2020. A year of firsts. Christmas 2020 is the year that we did something unheard of in our family — we actually sent Christmas cards with a photo of just me and Curt, no kids. That’s a BIG deal, because photo Christmas cards are very much a thing in our family. To be precise, Christmas cards with a group photo of the entire family are THE thing, and that thing has been non-negotiable since 1990. [If you’ve read the book then you know the rest of the story and I’ve saved you from the repetition.] But last year was different; the picture on the card had no kids, just Mom and Dad. And guess what happened to last year’s cards? They were printed, but not a single card was sent. It was just too weird; I couldn’t do it. But this year I did it; the couple-photo cards were printed, the envelopes stuffed, and those bad boys went in the mailbox!

2020 — the year of endless firsts. I’ll be glad to see it in the rearview! 2021, here I come!