Christmas 2020

I’m lying on the beach, 10 feet from the ocean, under an umbrella, knitting a cashmere sweater, as you do when it’s 80 degrees in December. 

My kids didn’t want to come to the beach today as “it’s boring” and instead opted to stay home and stare at screens and eat the gingerbread houses that they constructed last night. 

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Tis the season. Our last day of school was yesterday and now stretched out before us is 3 weeks of nothing. No family coming to visit, no holiday activities, no trips planned. And I’m good with that. I see it as 3 weeks of sleeping in, going to the gym and streaming TV and movies the rest of the time. 

Josh will keep working from home, except now we’ll be in his way. He’s planning to take a few days off here and there … though I’m pushing for a longer block of time to prevent burnout in 2021. 

Last year at this time Calvin was arriving, we were prepping for my sister and family to come spend Christmas with us, and we were spending my birthday weekend in Dubai. But no regrets — I’m happy we celebrated together when we did and I’m happy that my 2 boys who are in the US want to spend Christmas together. 

Intermission 

It’s now a few weeks later and we are reaching the end of our holiday. It has been a lot of Hallmark movies, Christmas movies, and TV marathons. The show Yellowstone is emotionally exhausting and painful to watch, but I can’t look away. I’m almost finished with the sleeves on my sweater. Calvin and Carter had a fun Texas Christmas and are now on their way home. 

We are spending the last 2 nights of 2020 in our favorite hotel where all the staff treat us like royalty. Josh has managed to take 9 days of vacation so we’ve been working out at the gym with Caleb, relaxing on the beach, and playing a few board games in the evening. Me playing board games might be the most unbelievable thing that has happened in 2020. 

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We return home tomorrow and then will head out to the desert to spend New Year’s Eve under the stars, ringing in the next era with sand and s’mores rather than champagne. 

And then? Back to “normal” life. Oh wait, maybe not. Breaking news on Instagram … (literally as I was writing this paragraph) we have to do the first two weeks of school in January online. 

I probably can’t express how ridiculous this is, but I will try. Because we have a 14 day quarantine in Abu Dhabi (with the lovely prison bracelets), our school admin made a request to the government that we be allowed to do the first 2 weeks of the term online so teachers and students could travel home for the holidays and then be online during quarantine days. It was especially important as many didn’t go home this summer so haven’t seen family in over a year. 

But the district said no. We would 100% be back in person on Jan 4. (Side note, they moved our Christmas holiday last minute because of our Covid testing schedule so anyone who did travel had to be back in UAE by Dec 20th, missing Christmas at home anyway). 

But now, 5 days before we are due to go back, surprise! You have to go remote now. No matter that you all gave up your vacation and that you just got Covid tested, and that your school is ready to go back … we know better and are going to tell you what to do. 

No worries that kids age 12-15 haven’t been in school since the end of February or that they can go to Bounce, to the waterpark, and to Ferrari world, but can’t go to school. It’s completely illogical. 

So cheers to you 2020, for knocking us on our butts right up to the end. (Caleb getting his Covid swab this morning that is now useless).