While it’s not completely unheard of for us to stay at home (wherever that may be) and not travel to Minnesota for Christmas, we always miss spending the holiday there. This year more than ever we cherished all of our Christmas traditions, but I also enjoyed making some new ones.

Early into the holiday season, Lainey mentioned a kids Christmas novel she had read and offered to set up a virtual story time with the older grand kids. I wasn’t sure how it would go, but it was a hit! Sophia and Will loved following along, helping read, plus all of the fun illustrations and rhymes. They especially loved all the extra virtual time with Grandma Lainey and their cousins. They may have also enjoyed the hot cocoa or holiday treat that accompanied story time.

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We did A LOT of baking during December. Each kid picked a treat to bake, plus mom baked some extra sweets as well. Even though our gingerbread houses weren’t the huge homemade ones Dad thought we should make, the kids had fun decorating their cottages and were sad when I tossed them in the trash a few days later.

Christmas Eve-Eve came and the real festivities began – Lobster Races! Claus and Larry didn’t put on much of a show but we still enjoyed the silly tradition and even more so, the lobster bisque on Christmas Eve. We shared Christmas Eve with Carolyn and family; what a treat to share our holiday with a small part of our family. Before dinner we shared a virtual cheers with the rest of the Wiktor/Case family and partook in one of my favorite traditions, reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Keeping with tradition, we shared oplateks before dinner and cracked our Christmas crackers and donned our crowns.

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After dinner all the presents were ripped through and then it was off to bed so the big man could come down the chimbley. We may have been a bit heavy handed with the carrots this year, but somehow they managed to disappear and Santa even left a nice note for the kids. We enjoyed opening stockings Christmas morning and Grandma’s monkey bread for breakfast as requested by Sophia. After a few more Zoom calls with the rest of the family, it was full speed ahead assembly LEGO, building puzzles, and playing games (Ticket to Ride was a big hit). We did deviate from our traditions and had lasagna for Christmas dinner. Turns out the Minnesota Wiktors did the same thing so maybe it will become a tradition after all? The rest of the holiday week was relaxing with lots of reading, movies and family game time. I even managed to finish making my 2021 calendar since Santa must have lost it en route 😉

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