WTFH in 2020?

Author's Note:  So I originally wrote the post below back in January but after rereading it, decided to break it up into two separate blogs, which I posted instead. This version remained in my queue as a draft, for reasons I am sure made sense at that time.  Fast forward three months to when I finally logged back in to write and I discovered an unposted blog.  It seemed odd, so I went ahead and published the post below without reading it or thinking about it. It took me a few days to realize my mistake, and given that this post was about memory loss and not remembering yesterday, I thought it was too perfect to take down.   So enjoy a deja vu / repeat post compliments of my absent mindedness. 

Well that was an interesting year... with what felt like both an eternity and a blink of an eye, 2020 is officially behind us, and I seriously have no idea what happened.  No seriously, I can’t even remember what happened yesterday let alone last month or even this summer... And given my temporary (or permanent) memory loss of 2020, I thought it might be helpful to summarize it all here… it took looking at blogs, photos and emails to piece this all together.

Looking back it is hard to believe that 2020 started off so strong... We rang in the New Year with the entire Breuer Family in Italy and had a brief layover in Lisbon on our way home.  Once back in the states, we ramped up the socializing with a birthday weekend at the Lake for Blake and my dad, a baby shower (for the Scharf Twins), a trip from Erin (I actually had forgotten about and only remembered once I saw the picture of her reading a book to Alva), big plans for multiple 40^th birthday celebrations and two upcoming weddings to look forward to. Oh and I got to see the CO Ladies in Aspen.  This was going to be my year!  I was killing it at work, at home, and in life...

And then COVID hit and life was subsequently thrown upside down, sideways and backwards all at once. 

• We opened a daycare in our house for two bright, but rambunctious kiddos… we made it 3 months before shutting down and outsourcing to professionals pretty much as soon as it was an option again
• Oskar got a big boy bed and an upgrade to his bedroom
• Alva got potty trained and went from barely walking last new year’s to running around the house, jumping and dancing.
• I baked some bread, made some applesauce and planted some plants
• We spent multiple weeks up at Dunsmuir: over Easter in April, in June and an amazing two weeks in September including my 40th birthday with the family
• We spent most every other weekend at Timber Cove, enjoying the extra outdoor space, fresh air and slower life... And in September we got finally sign off on our home allowing us to subsequently put in an unpermitted loft and start planning the guest house.
• I did a little self-care while trying to age gracefully and made just a few purchases over the 12 months… some really good buys (like my comfy pants and "welcome to the shitshow" coffee mug) and some not so smart buys (like a new lipstick or cute new work shoes).
• Thanks to working from home, I lost some muscle then gained some weight and am now trying to lose the weight and gain the muscle
• I began to truly educate myself on how we as a country have gotten so many things wrong, how we got here, why it is really such a mess and how do I do better both personally and when raising my kids.
• Much to the chagrin of Martin, I started the huge project of redoing our basement / laundry room in June and still haven’t finished yet.
• We binge watched too many TV series to remember but highlights included Call My Agent, Borgen, The Great, Catastrophe, #blackAF, Ted Lasso and the Queens Gambit.  I did manage to avoid watching The Tiger King, which I would call a win.
• I learned how to make the perfect martini and cook a perfect turkey
• We celebrated Christmas at home with just the four of us with an English Breakie, a drive by from my parents, a zoom call from Germany and meat fondue for dinner.
• I introduced my parents to convenience of DoorDash with lunch delivered to their house on New Year’s Day and during our driveway drive-by with my grandparents.

We rounded out the year in a fashion completely different than last year… Last year we rang in 2020 with a fancy 9 course dinner in Italy with the entire Breuer Family (and a slight disagreement between me and Martin).  This year we rang in 2021 with fancy dinner of currywurst, French fries and champagne/apple cider in our home, with just the four of us and a big ole’ dance party.  Here’s to hopping we are on the upswing.

The Holidays in 2020

Just a quick one to document our Holidays in 2020 because, as Oskar likes to remind me all too often, I am 40! Which means my memory is fading faster than me after one glass of wine.  And with COVID and lock down restrictions in full effect, this year’s holiday season was a little different and a bit hard to explain/define.

We tried out best to keep the holiday spirit alive, by keeping most of our favorite traditions and improvising when needed.  The day after Thanksgiving we walked down to Cole’s Hardware and picked out our Christmas tree and spent the weekend decorating it and our entire house. Advent calendars were started on December 1, as always and St. Nick dropped off presents on December 6.  

Each weekend we introduced the kids to a new Christmas movie including the classics like Rudolf and Charlie Brown, along with How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Martin’s German favorite Michael of Lindenberg.

We decorated gingerbread houses, sent out Christmas cards and did a LOT of online shopping.

Martin still made his normal 7+ batches of Christmas cookies, and without our normal open house this year, the cookies were all consumed by just the four of us over the course of the month. 

We took the Breuer family approach for the two big meals: Ragufant for Christmas Eve (after a walk around the neighborhood) and meat fondue for Christmas night (or as Oskar calls it – the meal where we cook at the table).  Meat fondue was followed by a crazy dance party in the kitchen (most likely compliments of the 2 martinis I had during dinner).  And we embraced the Gimbel tradition of Dim Sum on Boxing Day… although it wasn’t quite the same without the carts and ladies trying to sell you their less than desirable dishes.

While we were able to see family on Christmas (thanks to a drive by from my parents and a zoom call from Germany) and plenty of presents were opened in the morning, it took effort to make the day feel a little more special than any other day of the week.  The fancy table cloth, nice outfits and sparkling cider helped a little.

We rounded out the holidays and rang in the New Year with “Dinner for One” (another Breuer family classic), a fancy dinner of currywurst, French fries and champagne/apple cider and another dance party.  Here’s to hopping we are on the upswing.