December 2020 Update

What a year, huh?

I know some of us can’t wait for it to be over, but I’ve been busy trying to keep it a little bit normal.

This year, a friend posted a holiday photo on Facebook and took the money she would have spent on expensive greeting cards and gave it charity instead. Good on her.

Another friend, when asked if she wanted a greeting card, said she would rather the person offering take the time she would have used addressing the card to her and spend it with her children instead. Good idea.

We got professional pictures taken and I cheated by using envelopes with our return address already printed on them. Go me.

I’m always happy to receive a greeting card in the mail, but it’s by no means required, especially this year. I wanted to send holiday cards because, well, believe it or not, they’re the only contact I have with some old friends. I can’t be the only one who sends a card to their academic advisor, right? Anyway.

Keeping another, smaller, tradition alive, we made gingerbread houses. Well, a small village of them. The set included two houses, two stores, and a workshop. The exciting part came when we had a blowout on the icing bag and my husband stepped up and made more royal icing in a pinch, single-handedly saving Christmas. Okay, maybe not, but I really appreciated his being there to do so.

This year both kids helped wrap presents. There was a bit of a learning curve, but they did great. This is a new tradition we’ll have to explore moving forward.

And hey, what about that Mandalorian finale? Wow.

I won NaNoWriMo last month with over 50,000 words written. But I kept winning for another week as I continued to write and ended up with over 63,000 words in a story I wouldn’t have otherwise if I hadn’t stretched a little and went for it.

Then it was onto the edits I received the day before Thanksgiving from my publisher. Those went well. I finished three days after I started. Still not done with the editing process there, but they’re already talking about the cover which should debut in six months.

The new year will be upon us soon and I pray for resolutions to 2020 as well as joyful new beginnings when we might all be able to gather as before and do so safely.

Blessed Bitchin’ Yule Y’all!