Christmas Eve Eve 2021
Starting this year's post at 11:54 pm, so I'm certain it will not be posted on the "true" Christmas Eve Eve, but another year has come and gone and here we are (were) on my favorite day of the year. All of our presents are FINALLY wrapped (I hope) and I'm comfy in bed, watching White Christmas and snuggling the pup. A good ending to a decent day, although I've definitely had better Christmas Eve Eves in the past (but have also had some worse ones--talking to you, 2014).
2021 was a ride... Comparatively a low-key year, but also a very mentally draining one. Global pandemics will cause this, I assume. We have, fortunately, gotten back to a sense of semi-normal life, with some minor adjustments, but spikes in numbers are occurring again so who knows what the next few weeks will bring...
The recap:
January: We returned to our hybrid in-person schedule after New Year's last year (which I thought was a really stupid idea, but I digress) and were able to stay in school for the remainder of the year without any extended closures, which was a plus. Snow days with virtual learning are a total game changer and I hope we will keep those for the rest of my career. We had essentially a half-day of instruction and the rest of the day was spent in "conferences," where students could pop in and ask questions if they had any (which they rarely did). Gave us time to shovel and enjoy the snow while still getting the day of school in.
February: Nothing earth shattering that I can remember in February. Adam and I took up cross-country skiing (a few times) which was a fun thing to occupy us on weekends and snowy afternoons. It was quite a snowy winter last year. We also took some time to re-do our downstairs bathroom floor and I was able to get some work done on scrapbooks. Not having ZOW on the weekends was bizarre, but it was honestly very nice to have some downtime that we don't usually have.
March: Covid Vaccines were made available to teachers and Mom and I went on March 13th (exactly 1 year after schools announced the "2 week" shutdown) to get our shot. We had some unseasonably warm days, and we actually went kayaking down the river toward the end of the month. We chose not to hold our ZOW Jr. production, so we had some more free weekends.
April: Cindy and Cooper celebrated their 2nd birthdays. More nice weather meant more walks. I believe it was this month when the district decided to return to a 5-day in person schedule and most students returned to school. I was able to hold in-person lessons again for my band students, and things finally seemed to be a little more normal (although it was totally weird having that many students in the classroom again). This also felt like the longest month in the history of time. PSSA tests usually happen during March, but this year they were pushed off until May.
May: Also a very long month, since the typical end-of-year festivities (field trips, field day, pool day, etc.) didn't happen. We managed to get a few more kayaking trips in, and had some other fun events to attend (Emma and James' wedding, Eliza's bowling bachelorette party, Memorial Day picnic).
June: At the beginning of the month, we celebrated Brandon and Eliza's wedding. They had one of the HOTTEST days of the year (90s! on June 5th!!) but it was beautiful and we had a great time being a part of it. Then the unending school year FINALLY ended. I started off summer break so strong with a full week of house cleaning. This quickly turned into my typical summer of waking up late, but it did feel good to be productive for a bit. Adam and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary already (HOW?) on the 22nd, and we were also able to have an outdoor dance recital, which was stressful but actually pretty fun.
July: We went on our annual beach vacation, and also went on a trip to Connecticut to celebrate Shane and Kevin's wedding. (2021 was the year of weddings!) That trip was super fun. We rented a 12-passenger van and it was a lot of fun to have everyone together for the whole trip. We went to a theme park called Lake Compounce on our first day, where Eliza was interviewed for the local news because we arrived after a huge tropical storm and basically had the park to ourselves. Super fun. Also spent some time in Mystic and visited Yale. The wedding was also a great time and the food was incredible. Adam and I also did a paint and sip with whitewater at the end of the month which was super cool.
August: As always, we try to make the summer last as long as possible. Mom and I went on our girls' trip to New England that was supposed to happen last year. We visited Newport, Rhode Island, Bar Harbor, Maine, Mount Washington, Vermont, and Lake George, New York. We had such a great time (as we always do--we're fun people!). School started up again "normally" (with the addition of required masks) and I had quite the crew of classes during Marking Period 1.
September: At the end of the summer, we decided that we were going to go through with having our ZOW Jr. show in the fall. Frozen Jr. rehearsals began in the middle of September. It was a crazy time trying to get balance everything on our schedules, especially after all the downtime we got used to in 2020, but it was so nice to see the kids again and have some life in Smith Auditorium.
October: This month was even crazier. Every weekend was packed to the brim. Cheyenne's bachelorette party was at the Renaissance Faire, we went to New Jersey as a family to participate in the Lighthouse Challenge (which turned out to be really cool, but also really exhausting, and I lost and found my wallet, lol), Cheyenne's bridal shower was in Maryland the following weekend, and then the last weekend of the month was the actual wedding (also in Maryland). We took off of school on Friday before the wedding and had a fun time getting there and going through Gettysburg. We also visited Catoctin Mountain Park on Saturday before the wedding which was nice. I had a great time being in the wedding, but it definitely could've come at a more convenient time.
November: I turned 28 (again, how!?), and Frozen Jr. opened just a few days later. The kids really pulled it together and put on a great show. Ticket sales were quite low compared to previous years, but we had a good showing despite everything going on in the world. (And thankfully, none of our kids had to quarantine for the dates of the show! Phew!) We were also able to have an inside Christmas recital for dance the following weekend. Thanksgiving was low-key but nice, and we rounded out the month with our Christmas Cantata (again, inside again!). I did really appreciate last year's outside cantata, just because the number of practices required was a LOT less.
December: We packed a LOT into this month. Lehighton Band concert, my school concert and field trip, and lots of Christmas lights (Dorney, West End, Mauch Chunk Lake, Knoebels). We took a day off in the middle of the month to meet Meghan, Sean, and Leah for lunch and got to do some Christmas shopping at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets which was a highlight. And here we are on the day before Christmas Eve, stressed, but ready. I have 4 church services tomorrow (ugh), but am looking forward to some time with family on the 25th. We have ZOW auditions for The Addams Family on the 27th, and I'm so happy that we'll have a ZOW season again this year, even if I'm not totally crazy about the show. I'm auditioning for Wednesday and possibly Morticia (although I don't really want that part) so we'll see what happens in the next few days. :) I can write all about it next year.
2021 has been good, but hasn't been great. Hoping that 2022 gives us a little more positivity.
See you next year, LiveJournal.