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.