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I kind of fell off the blog horse, and exhorted myself to get back on . . . and then I decided to just lie on the ground and rest awhile . . . . We were having so much fun that I was quite worn out and had no time to chronicle. Christmas was bracketed, for me, with two informal Zoom wakes for Jim Gunn (the Grand Master of SF, not the director) and it took me some time to get over that. Having a live Tron in the here and now helped me leave sadness behind. It was so lovely to have her and the Lumberjack in the house for Christmas AND the New Year. We made a spreadsheet ahead of time with everyone's ideas about fun things to do, and then we did them all! At least, if we left anything out, I can't remember it now. We made gingerbread houses and collages, we took walks by the small-l lake and the big Lake, we cooked and ate all kinds of delicious things, we watched movies, we decorated the Christmas tree, we opened presents and hung stockings, we toasted the New Year in champagne, we wrote down everything we didn't like about 2020 and burned it in the fireplace, and we Zoomed with the other kids a couple of times. We burned a tremendous amount of wood in the fireplace, and sat by its light and warmth for many happy hours of reading, chatting, playing games, and occasionally napping. We did a pretty good job of celebrating, given that it's COVID time and there were so many other things we couldn't do.

The kids were planning to go home yesterday, but a big sleet and snowstorm blew in, making the drive treacherous all the way from here to Virginia, so they stayed an extra day. This morning I woke up to the sound of the Lumberjack scraping the ice off our sidewalk. He had gone out to de-ice their car, and took car of our walks and driveway too, just as he used to when they lived here. They packed up their gear and all the food items I kept finding and offering to them for future consumption, and left right on time. They texted from the road that the highway was clear, and they got home this evening in good shape. So here we are in our semi-solitary state again, with memories to keep us warm.