Christmas Letter 2020

The picture above is the picture that went out with our Christmas letter.  About accurate.  Ellie was blinking in 80% of them ON PURPOSE because she felt she was done.  So this is one of three pictures where she's not blinking.  And Jane?  Well she had her tongue out in about 80% of the pics we as well because she thought it was funny.  There is a six year difference between them, so I kind of expected more of Ellie!  Oh well.  Makes for a funny story (kind of) and a funny pic.  It usually only goes out to family anyway.  Below we tried for a pioneer look, but I think we all just look bored or annoyed.  Haha!  Below that pic is our letter.  Because of Covid, our local Costco shut down their photo service so I had to get my photos ordered and they were three weeks late getting shipped to me FROM CALGARY.  Totally didn't get them until after Christmas!  Haha!  AND they got my order wrong (I ordered matt with a white border and got glossy with no border).  Whatever!  This has been all of 2020 so it seemed fitting.  

Merry Covid Christmas 2020!

Jackson:  In a matter of weeks, Jackson will be able to be behind the wheel of a VEHICLE! 

This blows my mind. It blows my mind because I can’t believe this hasn’t happened sooner

seeing as he is 80 and all.  14 year olds and 80 year olds shouldn’t be driving anyway!  As an

80 year old, Jackson likes to fill out the crossword and Sudoku puzzles in the weekly

newspaper.  Yes.  I said newspaper!  He will sit with a mug of tea at the kitchen table,

pen in hand with eggs and toast.  The only thing missing is a robe and slippers---and

only because he has grown out of them.  As an almost 14 year old, Jackson still has yet

to attend a dance---this is not due to Covid but due to his lack of interest in dancing with

girls.  Or so he says.  Covid, however, has not stopped this young man from playing basketball,

snowboarding, drawing, filming cool or funny tricks/things/weird stuff, and working on skills like

unicycling or speaking Spanish for fun so that when your Grade 8 class assigns options like

Spanish class because Covid won’t let you choose, you can ace it.

Noah:  Noah too is all over basketball and snowboarding, but I would also throw in baseball and

film-making.  We legit have a director in the making over here.  “This quiet ghost child of mine”

you ask?  Yes.  He saves his speaking voice for the camera and has his own YouTube channel

where he confidently puts his creativity out into the world.  Noah has been quiet for most of his

life, but I feel like the day he turned 12 he decided he was going to come out of his shell.  AKA:

Speak.  And the things he has to say are funny.  And I think if there were no Covid

restrictions---or age restrictions---Noah would be going to dances and wooing all the girls with

his newfound speaking (and youtube videos).  

Ellie:  Ellie is pretty much the most dungeons-and-dragony 10.5 year old girl you could meet

(but without the dungeons part).  She is obsessed with Dragons, and Harry Potter.  She will not

stop reading and has read the HP series as well as the Wings of Fire series.  And when she’s

not reading, she’s writing about dragons and magic.  And when she’s not writing about them,

she’s drawing them.  And when she’s not drawing them, she’s singing about them.  Just kidding. 

That last part was a joke… until she learns how to write music and then she will be singing

about them.  Because of her busy dragon and magic to-do’s she rarely has time to brush her

hair or shower.  But this little homeless delight has one of the biggest and most observant

hearts in the world.  Always looking out for her little sisters and finding ways to help her Mama.

Zoe is the most jolly little 8 year old you will meet.  She cannot start or finish a sentence without

giggling and she has a sensitive light about her that just glows.  This year was a special year for

Zoe because she got baptized---in a RIVER!  And you can bet she was giggling the whole way

into that stream.  Something I have discovered about Zoe is her love for dance.  Along with Ellie

and Jane, she is currently taking a contemporary dance class and this girl has GRACE!  She

feels every single move.  And even outside of dance class, which she claims only plays slow

sad songs, she can come alive with the fastest and happiest of songs.  When Zoe isn’t dancing,

she is drawing, drawing, drawing some more, and singing.  Even while learning a song on the

piano, she can’t help but sing along with her killer vibrato to every word as she plays.  In a

nutshell, Zoe equals butterflies, rainbows, and joy.

Jane is not butterflies.  Or rainbows.  Or joy.  She is curious, determined, and willful.  All polite

ways of saying that this four year old is going to kill me one day.  Or become president.  Jane

wants to do what Jane wants to do, but while she’s doing it, she makes us laugh.  Just several

weeks ago Jane wanted to know the difference between boy dogs and girl dogs, so in an age

appropriate way I explained the difference.  The following week at the dog park she goes right

up to a lady and her daughter and explains to them that she knows their dog is a boy dog

because of its “feemus.”  (It was a girl dog).  Lately Jane has also loved being a part of gospel

discussion and will insert her thoughts whatever they be.  She was telling us that Jesus wants

us to be nice or he won’t like us so Noah responded, “Then I guess he doesn’t like you.” Jane

didn’t like that comment, so Noah back-pedalled with, “I was just joking!” To which Jane exclaimed,

"Jesus doesn’t like jokes". We all had a good laugh over that one.  We have

many-a-daily-conversation that makes me laugh.  Jane is also big on dancing and feels just

about as much as Zoe does.  We have lots of dance parties over here!  She has also discovered

her desire to SIT and draw/colour/write her name.  It is a lovely place to be.

I (Maren) have been holding on to a thread during this pandemic---a thread called writing a

Musical.  A Musical called, “The Gardener.”  This project has kept me going.  I am in the process

of organizing my fourth workshop and am waiting for the day when Footloose-for-singing ends

and I can start organizing the stage production end of things.  This past Spring was fun for

NOBODY, but the silver linings were that we got to get creative and spend more time together

as a family.  I discovered Noah’s personality and Jane had all her siblings home again! 

We’ve had make-overs, made music videos, held drawing contests, Jackson baked more,

we went on family walks together, played more board games and card games together, did

some camping during the Summer, lots of yard work, held home-church where we get to hear

important discussions about Jesus not liking jokes, and have watched way too many movies

together---all in the name of keeping it together.  I think we’ve done pretty good.  Kids are

resilient.  Mama could learn a few things.

Joe is incredible.  This year has been dumb and he has been stepping up and rising to every

occasion.  He works like a mad-man, then comes home and digs up whatever energy he has

left to be available for the kids and I.  He deserves to nap for a whole year when this pandemic

settles.  Things at the Vivo Cura Health clinic are getting exciting.  This week the official sign

went up outside the building so all those driving by on the Deerfoot can see it.  Congrats Joe

and team!  Things are coming together!  And every Sunday without fail, Joe makes us the best

Daddy-dinners.  Sunday is a day we all look forward to!  Whenever the kids tell me what their

favourite meals are, they are never on the list of ones I make!  Haha!  That’s fine with me,

because I agree and it makes for a very relaxing Sunday for Mama!  With all the driving Joe

does, he has sure found his love for audio books.  You name it, he’s read/listened to it---unless

it’s a novel!  He’s more of a “how-to” or “meep morp” kind of guy.  

We hope this letter finds you well!  We miss you and look forward to a pandemic-free time when

we can meet together again!  Until then, enjoy your quiet Christmas break!  May the New Year

bring us not-a-pandemic!                                                                        

-Love, The Burnhams! 

Fine. I'll Count Them.

My last post was pretty whiney, and when I'm feeling like that I need to stop myself and count some blessings.  In no particular order, here are some pictures of some of the fun ways we have all been trying to cope with the restrictions.  I'll admit that sometimes it feels like a heavy burden to feel responsible for how happy or unhappy (bored or not bored) your family is at home.  I think we've been doing okay everything considered.  Ups and downs!  Aside from the cloud hanging over our home (and everyone's homes) called, "RESTRICTIONS" we are finding our own ways to have fun and be a family together.

Joe has gotten into paint by numbers.  He actually bought one of these for me last Christmas and I was like, "no thanks!"  Haha!  So he did it.  And then bought another.  He and Noah seem to enjoy this.  I'd rather just paint freely!  

Tucker snuggles always make us smile.

Tucker requires at least two walks a day (more in the Summer) which means Jane and I get out of the house every morning to walk him.  Despite the face she is making, this is usually a big fight.  And then when we finally get out the door, she remembers that it's actually kind of fun.

Walk Number two with Tucker is usually at the dog park.  I usually wait for the kids to get home from school so I can take him alone since it's been so cold and the kids already did their time in the cold when they walked to and from school.  But on this particular occasion Jane went with me.  Again, lots of complaining until we get there.  We had a really mild Fall and start to winter.  I believe this is October/November.  This is when I still wore make up/"tried."  Haha!  Who needs it now?  Sorry.  Yup.  Blessings.  I'm saving money on make up?

Our first snowfall.  It was so quiet and calm.  Tucker and Jane and I spent a good hour outside on this beautiful minus two morning.  It was like a blanket.  Every step we took in the snow made the best sound.  I loved it.  Tucker thought it was really fun to snatch the mittens off our snowman and run away.  Jane loved that.  She didn't.

Dog Park before our first cold-spell.  I love this picture.  Joe has had a hard year, and yet he can still smile for our kids.  I love him for that.  It's hard to smile some days, but he would never let the kids know that.

Now that the snow is here to stay, this is how we Dog Park.  I just keep the sled in the car now.

Every weekend we try to get a family dog park walk in.

This was one of my favourite evenings.  The boys spent their hard earned money on some nerf guns so we took turns being the target and wore a plastic mask and just held our breath (rather, the cup on our head was the target).  And then laughed a lot!  It was awesome.  We have some slow-mo videos of the boys shooting Joe's face without a mask and watched his cheeks reverberate.  Like I said, lots of laughs that night.

This extra little puppy is actually from the same litter as Tucker's.  His name is Copper and he's either Tucker's brother or step brother (same Dad at the very least, but possibly a different Mom).  We have invited Copper over a couple times for fun and then dog-sat him for a whole weekend a few weeks ago.  The kids were in heaven.  It gave us a pretty good idea of how Tucker felt about an extra puppy around.  Very territorial and protective of his Mama and his people but too shy to be mean or aggressive about it.  In this particular picture we were all watching a movie and had paused it to take the dogs out to do their business.  Tucker BOLTED back onto my lap to take his place as my first born, and then Copper meandered back and found a place.  I laughed so hard.  "This is MY Mom."  Haha!  I was feeling especially loved.  Tucker was mighty clingy the day Copper went home.  I think he was worried that he was getting replaced or something.  Made me kind of sad for him.  But he also had a lot of fun.  It took about a day and a half before the two of them slowed down enough to stop chasing each other.  It was almost as though they made a pact, like, "I'll take a nap if you take a nap!"  Otherwise, it was a constant play zone for them.  A great way to break up a boring weekend!  Copper was especially snuggly with Noah which he of course loved!

Joe had the brilliant idea to take the nerf guns (and our family) to his work place (the side that is un-renovated and unused;  aka dark and creepy).  It was a hit!  We played hide and seek and it was so fun and scary!  Lots of running and shooting.  Got lots of energy out that night.

Meet Princess Jane.  About a month ago, she realized she was a princess with super powers and I am the Queen.  I'm pretty sure this is a few months old, but we usually walk this loop and princess Jane likes to sit on this particular bench with Tucker.  It all started with us being on a Quest to find the treasure (the mail in the mailbox) and Jane's superpowers allowed me to walk across the river (the street) without getting eaten by sharks (the cars).  Now that it is snowy, there is a skating rink that is across from this bench and Jane has deemed it her kingdom.  Ghosts and Mummies keep attacking it though, but then they get caught in the ice.  Sometimes we have to sing "blackbird" to keep the ghosts from attacking us.  When we sing that particular song, it makes them happy and less likely to attack.  I love this age.

We have lots of artists in our family so you can bet that a lot of time is spent drawing.  Ellie and Zoe in particular are constantly in their sketchbooks.  I'm glad they've found a quiet way to create and express themselves.  Ellie is currently obsessed with Wings of Fire (dragon book series) and Harry Potter.

This is actually part of Noah's Food's Class.  His assignment was to feed us!  Sadly, foods during all these restrictions?  I mean, he's not even allowed to measure things out at school, and then part way through the trimester it became an online class.  These poor teachers that are asked to get creative.  The problem is, I'm pretty sure Noah learned zero in this class!  He makes omelettes all the time!  BUT, they are really good!  And he made one for everyone!  That's a long time to be on your feet!  Well done Noah.

We have made our fair share of forts.  And by "we" I mean Jackson.  We're had a few overnighters in these things.  And by "we" I mean, the kids.

Not just any dance party.  A sweater-worn-weirdly-so-your-legs-are-your-arms dance party!  This actually went on for quite some time and we all laughed a lot and had a blast.

More dog park fun.

Joe is a champ and brought out his Grandma Burnham's spudnut recipe.  These were delicious and I'm pretty sure I didn't eat for days after this.  Mmmm.

I wish I could say this about all of my kids, but it's pretty much just Ellie.  She LOVES to read!  it's just as much as escape to her as a movie.

We all had eye exams after Christmas and Noah was the only lucky one who walked away with glasses.  He looks so grown up!  Ellie is on her way though.  Her eyes are getting worse, but not bad enough that she needs anything just yet.  She's next!

We've had lots of evenings like this.  Usually before putting Zoe and Jane to bed they want to watch a funny dog video on youTube or watch kids say the funniest things, etc.  Usually the rest of the kids find their way here and we all have a good laugh.  Precious family time.  On this particular occasion, I fell asleep on Jane's bed as I was reading her a book before bed.  Joe must have come home at some point after I had fallen asleep because I then woke to some heavy laughter coming from my room.  I opened the door to this scene (Jane did NOT fall asleep).  And then I joined them.

Every day more and more Jackson is claiming his manhood.  He has been working our every morning with his friends.  And by "with his friends" I mean, they all face-time each other online as a group to keep each other motivated and going.  He keeps asking me to check out his pecs.  It has been a few weeks of this, so his pecs look the same to me.  Haha!  But I'm sure they feel pretty sore to him!  In no time, I am sure to have a buff teenager in my house.  Here is a pic of Jackson showing us his first armpit hair.  Haha!  This kid cracks me up.  And I will call him a "kid" for as long as I'm able.  The other night he was asking all sorts of questions about finances and bills and mortgages and careers and job security.  He's fourteen.

 Can I be done counting now?

Feeling Restricted

 I am having a day.  No one likes to hear a complainy-pants, so I'm writing it all out here.  I'm sick of the Covid Restrictions.  I understand that they are in place for a reason, but who would have thought that visiting with friends and family would be illegal.  It feels a bit like Nazi Germany.  Maybe that is going to far, but I certainly don't feel free.  A week before December, the boys were sent home to do online school while the girls (because they are in elementary school) stayed in school.  They were asked to do this until the second week of Jan.  Mind you, there was a Christmas break in there, but let's talk about what a "break" means.  We were not allowed to visit people's homes.  Not anyone's.  No seeing friends, not even outside gatherings.  No meeting to go skating, or at the sledding hill or park.  No.  This is when I thanked Joe for purchasing that family ski pass at 3 in the morning when he couldn't sleep.  I was so mad at him for doing that and not having a conversation about it.  But, it honestly helped keep our family excited about something.  We have gone skiing quite a bit this winter and it was kept us alive.  A few weeks ago, more restrictions eased up a bit.  You can now meet friends outside, still no going to anyone's homes though.  And sports for kids has opened up as long as there are no more than ten people in a room and they stay 10 feet apart.  Not sure how that's going to work.  I suppose there won't be any scrimmaging if you can't get close, just a lot of drills?  Def no games.  I got really excited because all three of the girls have been in dance over the Fall.  They started in-person and then very quickly had to be done over zoom, which was a gong show really.  But they are back to in-person.  They are taking contemporary dance, which is something I have always wanted to learn but adult classes for beginners are non-existent so I asked their teacher if she would consider doing an adult class and she told me if there were enough people interested, she would open up a class.  So I spent all night last night sending out texts and messages to friends with all of these details only to find this morning that it can't happen because the ease of restrictions are only for children, not adults.  So.  There went a bit of my spirit today.  There is still no theatre or music.  No singing.  I keep getting memories on Facebook that come up from last year and they are all Feather Pen Fairytales.  Oh I am so happy I got to do that last year.  But has it already been a year?  And how are we not further along?  How is it that we are still expected to wear masks at school, grocery stores, and well, every single public place.  If you don't want to wear a mask, then don't leave your home.  I think if I didn't have a dog to walk or children to feed I would have no reason to leave my home.  It is depressing.  Every day seems to be a fight to stay positive so I don't go down this deep well of depression.  Today is not a great day for that because, well?  I'm dwelling.  I have been trying to be really good at seeing the positive, and there's lots to be grateful for but today, I'm just fed up.  I'm sad.  I've had it.  I see my kids struggling which is the worst part.  I think Noah and Jackson are feeling it the most.  They are definitely being robbed of their Junior High experience.  Junior High is already hard to begins with, just throw in a global pandemic!  Wee!

I think the other thing that is on my mind a little today is that I had a dream.  I don't usually remember dreams, at least not lately.  I had a baby boy.  He was beautiful.  I was happy about it.  I wanted him.  About eight years ago I had a spiritual experience where I just knew for sure I would have six children.  That would be my special number!  But as time has gone on, I have questioned that experience quite a bit.  My sanity is depleted.  Zilch.  Zero.  And as the day went on, it was brought to my remembrance as my kids were being the opposite of angels (expect for Jackson who doesn't know how to be the opposite of an angel).  It was the nail in the coffin that, nope, that dream meant nothing.  My kids need me and I can barely give them anything.  If I had one more baby?  I just don't know how I could offer them anything.  I miscarried between Zoe and Jane.  I have been counting that miscarriage as a number.  That's my 5 to my 6 babies.  I will raise that child after this life.  But for some reason when I woke up this morning, I was shaken.  I just swapped my IUD for a new one.  It's another five years of not getting pregnant.  And for a short moment I thought to myself, what would our family look like with that beautiful baby boy as the period to our family?  Certainly not making any decisions on this while I'm in a depressed state of Covid Exhaustion (yes, that is a term people are using).  Maybe I will just always wonder what life would be like with one more.  I think the answer to that would be, HARD!  It would be hard Maren!  I am turning 40 this year.  My body is DONE!  So the Mom guilt can just GO!  But will it?

Christmas 2020

These pictures could not be more out of order, but I'm too lazy to organize them.  So!  I'll do my best to describe them as they come.  These first two are on Christmas Eve.  We booked the lake to go skating.  We used to be able to just show up, but because of the Covid restrictions, we have to book in advance and can only stay for an hour.  We also have to stay with just our family (no meeting with other friends).  An hour was perfect for our family though!  Skating is one of my favourite things to do over the holidays and we had the best weather for it.

This is after Christmas.  "Cards Against Humanity - Family Edition" was easily the fav game of the season for us.  Lots of fart jokes.

And this was the day we put up the tree (I believe it was the second week of November).  Jane LOVES this little town and was playing with all of the ornaments like they were dolls.  It was pretty cute. A very magical day when Christmas goes up.

Puzzle contest!  We had a boys against girls contest to see whose team could put their puzzle together the fastest.  The girls and I were a little too busy wrapped up in singing along with the Christmas songs to be fast.  Tee hee!  

And what is Christmas without decorating gingerbread houses?  I've been buying two lately because there just enough room on one house for our entire family to participate.

Ellie could have used a house of her own.  Yes, these are tears due to Jane "wrecking" everything.  My little perfectionist daughter could not handle our house having a few creative-Jane elements.  She also could not handle Joe and I trying to make her laugh and swiftly went to her room to cry.  So.  Like I said, every single family event?  Tears.  Ellie was just taking her turn.

Jolly Holly was feeling a little creative this year and wanted to try a few new and exciting places to hide or make us laugh.  Again, these are not in order and are scattered throughout this post... so.

I forced the kids to watch a little bit of a project I had worked on this year.  Not anything I wrote, but I was hired as a Music Director for an animated local project called, "Nutty C and The Perfect Tree."  It was a good experience considering the restrictions and limited ability to be on stage together.  We also had some insane timelines to reach.  I'm not sure the producer was 100% happy with how things turned out but we all still had a good attitude about it.  For me, it was more about creating memories and enjoying a new experience.  Jane and Jackson humoured me by watching a few minutes of it.  Jane liked it!  Haha!

One of many puzzles we pulled out this Christmas!  Harry Potter!

This was my favourite Jolly Holly moment of the season.  Haha!   Our Harry Potter advent calendar characters attacked JH!

It's another holiday!  More sugar cookies!

More skating.  I think this was our first time out.  Joe wasn't able to come due to work, but it was pretty manageable.  Actually, I'm pretty sure Jane cried for half of it because she just wanted to go fast!  Zoe and Ellie were so patient with her and kind considering the amount of screaming that came out of her!  "I wasn't that fast either when I first learned how to skate, too!"  Very sweet.  An hour was plenty of time for our family!  We all survived it and everyone helped out!  Jane wasn't a total disaster the entire time.  It was generally really fun actually.  But I DO think I was having one of those days where nothing could get me down!  Not even a screaming Jane.

We got a DUMP of snow.  And I'm so happy we did because with all of these restrictions, we were running out of ideas of how to spend our time as a family.  There are only so many puzzles and board games you can play!  Here we are digging tunnels.

This is Christmas Eve.  Zoe and Jane (mostly Zoe) helping to make a veggie-platter masterpiece for dinner!

Christmas Eve PJ's.  We just finished doing the Nativity where Jane wore a red blanket.  When we asked her who she was dressing up as, she said, "I'm an evil angel."  Hmm.  What Nativity story are YOU telling Jane?  We had a good laugh.

We watched the movie, "Klaus."  It was so late once the girls went to bed!  I think it must have been 9:30 or 10pm!  But just as I was putting Jane down she said, "Mom!  We need to put cookies and milk out for Santa!"  We sure do.  I think this is my favourite picture of all of Christmas.  That adorable face.  Hand on cheek?  It's too much.

Christmas morning!  As per usual, the kids opened stockings first, then we had our Christmas cereal.  Then presents!

I got spoiled.  Joe is so clever and creative.  He wrapped up a clue in different gifts and I had to solve it.  Eight years ago, we moved to Ontario and had to leave my baby grande piano in Edmonton.  When we moved back we were never in a living situation or a large enough house to get my piano back to me.  There were many times when Joe almost convinced me to sell it and buy something close to us with the money we made from it, but it was my childhood piano and there was so much sentiment to it.  When Joe asked me what I wanted for Christmas I said, "I want my piano."  But I knew deep down that was a huge ask and it likely wasn't going to happen.  But.  He made it happen.  I bawled on the spot.

And this gem is what I got for Joe.  He also bawled on the spot.  Haha!  JK.  I suck.  Not kidding.  As soon as I opened my gift I was like, "forget it!  Don't bother!  Let me try again!"  Haha!  We have been playing a lot of "Drawful" as a family and this is one of the many hilarious pictures that Jane drew so I thought it would be funny to put on a blanket for Joe.  I mean, Joe can get himself whatever he wants whenever, so I thought it would be cute to get him something he could laugh at.  Well.  He did laugh.  I totally lost the gift giving game.

One of my favourite parts about Christmas is watching the kids be kids and just PLAY together.

At the top of Zoe's list was a wine goblet.  She got two very fancy Christmas goblets and they were her favourite things!  Do not ask me why.  I guess they just make her feel fancy.  She used them every day all Christmas season.  And well, we are into February and she is still using them.  I'm shocked they've lasted this far.

More winter fun.  Thank you snow plows!  They created the BEST sledding hill right in front of our house and it stayed like this for a number of weeks.  We weren't complaining!

Our attempted quinsy.  We spent about four separate days on this but I did something to my back and then Joe was back at work and well?  It's got a partial hole for an entrance and that's about as far as we got.  It was fun to work on though, even if it didn't get finished!

This was our New Years Eve!  We ate some more, stayed up late and finished this puzzle.

I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff, but I think this covered quite a lot of it.  We usually visit Joe's family for the holidays and have lots of different parties to attend but this year that was all shut down.  It was weird to not be as busy with Christmas concerts (church, choir and school).  It was weird not singing at any particular function.  It was weird not attending any Favourite Things parties or Church gatherings or work parties.  No external family.  Nothing.  But it was also kind of nice to slow down and it forced us to get creative.  We wrote and recorded a Christmas song called, "Covid's Gettin' Coal" and filmed a music video for it.  It was so fun to put it together and be a family together.  We shared it with our external family and friends to show that we still planned to party hard Burnham-style no matter what restrictions were thrown our way, and I think we did.  We also had a zoom Christmas piano recital where we zoomed in with my parents and my sisters, Jenny and Sarah and each performed the Christmas songs we had been working on.  We also zoomed with my family and each shared a funny video we put together (ours was our music video) or a song, poem, etc.  Doug did a video of a cooking show with his kids and I laughed my face off.  Sarah did a video where she pretended to play a song on piano, but really it was Taylor!  Haha!  Spencer and his family sang 12 days of Christmas Canadian style.  It was good times.  Though we were restricted in what we could do, I think our creativity brought our family closer together.  Definitely a memorable Christmas.