Apologies if you’ve checked in earlier and I hadn’t posted this yet…#2020, am I right? Getting this posted on the last day of 2020 so that it still counts as our 2020 newsletter! Thanks for understanding!
Hello and Merry Christmas!
We are safe and healthy and weathering whatever 2020 has brought us. This year has not been easy – no need to sugar coat that. There were still bright lights among the darkness though, so we continue to celebrate that!
Nora is 11 years old now! 11! What an in-between age! For her birthday she got some (non-permanent) hair dye and a Harry Potter doll – see? In between!
Katy is 8 years old! She is one of the best snugglers I’ve ever known and could not wait for the snow to fall and the temp to drop so we could skate on our rink and play in the snow!
We have faired ok through 2020. Right before things shut down in March, we were lucky enough to have Grandma Brien, Aunt Sally & Sophie visit us for March Break. In lieu of a friend birthday party for Katy, we had a “Katy Day” while they visited. We did all the things Katy loves doing – including crafts and lounging in pyjamas – and had a great time celebrating our new 8 year old!
Through the school shut down we set a routine for the girls to work through their school days and for their “learning time” block they each FaceTimed with a different Grandma and then switched. We are so thankful for those Grandmas helping them keep on task! The girls went back to school in their building in September. Lots of things different, but lots
I have been working from home since March and Doug worked from home for a few weeks. He’s been back in the office since April. I’m still with OLG and he’s still with Tenaris. In February I had the opportunity to speak at a local conference on Adaptive Leadership. It was challenging and nerve-wracking, but very rewarding! We’ve both been busier than ever through the pandemic. Not always easy, but we don’t take our work for granted and we weather through together. Doug was able to curl again this fall and has been enjoying time with his team and even winning a few games! He’s been wearing the curling sweater I knit him (the yarn a gift from my mom & dad), which makes my handmaker heart pretty happy!
In May we lost Doug’s dad. His health had been declining, but a fall caused damage he couldn’t recover from. He passed peacefully and we continue to miss him. Thankfully, even with COVID restrictions we were able to gather our immediate family (10 of us) for a viewing and then some more friends and family were able to gather for an internment in the summer. We plan to have a Celebration of Life sometime in 2021 when we are allowed to do so.
We miss Norm. Grief comes in waves, but we focus on the happy memories and times together.
Nora is still loving soccer and Girl Guides. Her Guide group started meeting outdoors in the fall. Indoor soccer has been back on in the fall as well – with all the appropriate restrictions in place. It’s shut down until at least the middle of January now, so we’ll see how things go. She missed 2 tournaments in June & September that she was looking forward to, but she’s been glad to get back to soccer at all! The school shut down was tough on her – she really missed her friends! She and Doug got into biking this summer with lots of trips on the Hub Trail and around our neighbourhood. They even biked all the way to camp (about 18kms). She did get to spend a week with my parents in Bracebridge and we all enjoyed a week or so in Bracebridge with our whole Brien family. She asked for a skateboard for Christmas and has been really enjoying having our (ever growing) nutcracker collection on display this Christmas season.
Katy got back to Brownies in the fall as well and has enjoyed the outside time with the group. She was able to take an art class in the fall that she really, really enjoyed. The class was a “mixed media” class so she did some relief painting, some sculpting with aluminum foil and even made a snowman out of a sock! She’s really hoping she’ll be able to take more art in the new year. She can often be found in the middle of our living room surrounded by craft supplies making little notes for everyone she loves. Lots of glue and lots of cut up paper. She also likes to make “homemade confetti” – which is exactly what you think it is. She spent the week with my parents as well and really enjoyed vacation with us too. She asked for a skateboard like Nora and a Toothless (dragon from “How To Train Your Dragon” series) stuffy too!
Our summer, thankfully, involved lots of time spent at camp relaxing in the sunshine. That was a nice reprieve and we could * almost * forget everything going on. The girls liked what they called a “true summer” since they weren’t involved in any daycamps or anything like that. There was lots of down time, but also time with Grandma Lyons and Auntie Christy, staying active.
I read our letter for 2019 out loud for all of us a few weeks ago. We had a good laugh about wanting to slow down – LOL. Through all of 2020 we’ve had lots of opportunity to spend time together, do puzzles, enjoy the weather, lounge, craft and get on each other’s nerves (sometimes!). We aren’t travelling anywhere this Christmas season – a first in our 15 years of marriage. We’re all sad to miss out on time with our Brien family, but we will Zoom and make the best of it. The hugs will be that much better when we do get to see each other in person again.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
With Love,
Doug, Alicia, Nora & Katy Lyons
Merry Christmas! 