Ice Skating

 There is a cute little ice skating rink really near us in Northfield.  WinterSkate is open during the winter, so we got some tickets and went in - the kids stayed on the ice for almost the whole hour and a half.

 

First nuclear family Christmas

This pandemic has turned people's lives upside down, and for us, this was the very first Christmas we have not spent in person with the Litwiller clan. And that dates back to when I started celebrating Christmas at all, even before Dan and I got married!  But we still had fun with food, family zooms, presents, and decorating our ginormous great room with a ridiculously small tree.

 

  

Decorating ourselves

Neighborhood decorations

Presents

The Litwillers

Feast

Chocolate fondue for dessert

Puzzling

COVID

Testing: Lab meetings went from 0 people to 5, to 10, to 20, to 50, and then to 80.  We had to do them outside, even in the cold, and had to do them in groups!

Protection at last! First shot, December 18, 2020.  The first one was fine, but the second knocked me out. 

A close colleague of mine, Lara Yourkin, pricking her finger to see if the rapid antibody test is any good. It isn't. 

A rare chance to work from home. There are two kids on my lap, I can't see either of my computers, and I am definitely not getting anything done. 

Gingerbread house

Dan decided to christen the house with its own home made gingerbread house. Also, the kids had been found eating the store bought gingerbread house out of the garbage last year, and everyone knows how Dan feels about food preservatives.