In some respects, this post should be easy to write. This is because it feels like, due to COVID-19, we didn’t do a whole lot this year. At the same time, we did do a whole lot this year. Even though we’ve spent a lot of time at home and have faithfully adhered to physical distancing guidelines, it has still been an eventful year.
Here is an overview of our 2020.
Winter
Ironically, I began the year with a post about hope. Many people in our nation and around the world have struggled to feel hope this year. At times when I didn’t feel very hopeful, this post reminded me of the hope we have because of God’s faithfulness.
I also shared a post about how to have respectful conversations about differences. What an apropos topic this turned out to be! The tips I shared in this post have proved very helpful as I’ve engaged in discussions about politics with others.
We met with a real estate agent in late February to discuss the possibility of selling our house. It was in need of several repairs and updates. We weren’t sure if it was best to move ahead with these or to sell it (you can read about making this decision here). Homes in our area were selling for roughly 25% more than they did when we bought our home, which would allow us to sell it and purchase a newer home or one that already had the updates. In the end, we decided to sell it. The plan—at the time—was to sell in the spring.
We ended the winter by beginning a paper chain prayer calendar for Lent. This kid-friendly prayer calendar helped us focus our prayer on a wide variety of individuals and issues (ourselves, family members, friends, our city/state/nation, current events, government leaders, other countries, etc.) as we moved towards Easter.
Spring
We managed to keep our celebration of Easter special, but it certainly was a subdued affair. We attended church online, but we still dressed up and ate plenty of candy afterwards!
We finished our spring by enjoying some delicious Butter Pecan Muffins and musing about realistic ways for moms to recharge and why our nation places so little value on older adults.
Summer
We began summer by celebrating my middle child’s 4th birthday. We made some fun Sugar Cookie Pizzas as part of our celebration!
We spent most of our summer cleaning, painting, and doing other small things to get our house ready to sell. One of the larger projects we completed was an update to one of our bathrooms. We loved the results!
Despite this work, we did manage to get outside and play a lot. We experimented with various DIY bubble wands. We also found time to snack. Our favorite snack of the summer was this Brown Sugar Peach Ice Cream.
Fall
We listed our home for sale it late August and we had offers almost immediately. We closed on the sale of it in early October. This means we spent all of September packing and hauling boxes across town to our new home, which we absolutely love. We have a HUGE kitchen, which is so helpful.
After our move, we celebrated my oldest child’s 6th birthday and my youngest child’s 2nd birthday. Where has the time gone?
I contemplated some ways to go green with homeschooling as we finally started on our school year. We also explored our new neighborhood with this new neighborhood scavenger hunt.
We had simple Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. Both were meaningful and involved eating a lot of delicious food. For Christmas, in particular, we baked (and ate) dozens and dozens of cookies.
Top posts
Here are the 10 most popular posts I wrote during 2020:
- 25 Questions to Ask Your Spouse Besides “How Was Your Day?”
- How to Store a Cucumber Without it Getting Mushy
- Apricot Almond Muffins
- 8 Ways to Celebrate Easter During the COVID-19 Lockdown
- 10 Frugal Ways to Make Valentine’s Day Special
- Why Dreaming as a Couple Benefits Your Marriage
- April 2020 Dinner Menu (AKA Meal Planning During a Pandemic)
- Coconut Cornmeal Muffins
- Butter Pecan Muffins
- How to Enjoy the Time You Spend Cleaning the House
Final thoughts
We are happy to be finishing out 2020 on a quiet note. Like many of you, we are hopeful that we will see an end to the pandemic in 2021 so we can get back to some of our normal activities.
What are some of your highlights from 2020? What things are you eager for in 2021?
Good Morning!
Great Post…I especially like the picture of You and Your Girls in front of the Christmas Tree!
Carol
Thanks, Carol! I get a picture of us in front of the tree every year…one of my favorite traditions!
What fun memories! Your kids are growing so fast.
2020 was a very difficult year in many ways, but there were definitely many precious moments. It was a lot of fun to see my two boys (4 and 2) grow older and hit a fun playful stage (they wrestle together all the time, it’s great), and, of course, having a baby was a huge highlight and joy for all of us! I’m excited to see what God does in the coming year.
They are growing fast, AnneMarie. I know yours are, too.
It’s wonderful to have so many precious moments to temper the difficult ones. Kids make sure this happens!