Christmas Forum 2020 : A Year in Review

Will post some thoughts later when get time for a longer post.

I echo DvB's words in relation to the Mods, its is a fantastic forum.

The positive for me were that the lockdown (#1) meant that I could not fly out anytime a client requested so I had time with my youngest elf which I might not have had. That lead to not getting up at 3am for a flight at the start of the week, and not getting home at 3am on the last day of the week. This would have me sleeping most of the first day of the weekend, then the second day planning an early night for my 3am get up for the next flight, I had 5 months straight of this so the lockdown ended it.

The negative for me is that my eldest elf lives in a different country and I have seen them for only 1 day since April last year, I put a brave face on it but my heart is incredibly heavy over it. We had so many trips planned together that got canceled at the last minute.

Fingers crossed for 2021, I will be planning all my leave and taking as much unpaid leave as possible to make up lost time.

Notwithstanding my earlier post thanking our mods, I wanted to expand a bit more on all that 2020 brought for me & my family and didnt really get the time in work yesterday.

It goes without saying it was a year like no other, funnily enough it started positively for me, due to work commitments there was no time for post christmas blues, it was in at the deep end from the off. So before we knew it we were into February, the kids football & hurling friendlies had started, summer holidays were booked, training was going well & the season lay ahead of us, and Rovers were finally looking like a team that could win the league of Ireland again... then out of the blue as Paddy's day approached everything changed.

Firsty, there was the rush to enable everyone to be able to work remotely before the final lockdown kicked in, and then bam, we were told not to come to work, and 90% of our projects on site had been closed down. WFH was weird at the start, but I grew to like it & quickly. No early morning commutes on packed trains, weather was nice, windows open, music in the background and all was going fine. More time with the wife & kids, helping them with homework etc. & despite the worries that every 6.01 news brought us there was a real feeling of solidarity as we as a nation did our bit in terms of processing the developing situation. People became neighbours again, helping one another out where possible, and we all seemed to be in it together pushing in the one direction.

Even then we thought this would only last a few weeks, but no, it went on, and on & on. Holidays were cancelled, we got stiffed & badly burnt by Ryanair, but moved past it as we still had our health & were thankful for that & still having jobs. Then, it looked like we had an end in sight, we got to go to the west for a few days, which remarkably coincided the best weather in August, we got to swim in the sea, walk in forests, visit achill, have a pint with dinner in a hotel. bliss... The kids went back to school & it looked liek we'd be able to manage this going forward.

Then Halloween came, more restrictions, then we had the christmas build up, & one by one most of the things we enjoy every year as a family in the build up were cancelled, would we even have a christmas at all!? Thankfully we did, and as i described in another thread, it was quieter than hoped, but better than expected. We managed to spend one day with my family, but my wife unfortunately had to rely on zoom to see hers, it simply wasnt the same. It was the polar opposite of a normal christmas at ours & for all the novelty value, its not what I wanted & nor want to experience again. But we did the best we could & we're all still here, still healthy & looking to the year ahead with hope, hope that this years christmas build up is a normal one where we get to savour the season without masks, sanitiser, without being 2m away from the ones we love or just want to have the craic with, the kids can see santa, we can see & hear carolers sing out loud & all sorts of other christmas treats & events...

This forum has been a backbone to my year though. In all the days i needed cheering up, it was always here, on the darkest days when I just felt like crying I could come in here & enjoy our love of all things christmas & it gave me the energy to look forward to the brighter days to come. I looked forward to coming in & seeing threads lit up with posts to read... before I'd wrap up work on a Thursday i'd line up the picture I'd use on the weekly countdown & then when I woke up every Friday rushed to get it up as early as possible (that or risk a tut tut from TRS30 ) and as simple & silly as that sounds, it was a small moment of joy every week & I loved doing it. I had favourited some images months in advance & took great pleasure as the weeks counted down to finally getting to post them, so you could say Christmas brought out the little boy in me again this year & that for me is something I never thought would happen again. This forum did that & I thank you all for being a part of it.

Christmas 2021 I hope will be back to normal for us as a family, personally I love the build up & getting out doing things with family & friends in the weeks before & I missed that badly this year. So as nice a christmas it was in 2020 all things considered, I'd be swaying back towards the traditional one this year if all goes to plan.

TLDR = Ye are all fuppin great so ye are.:D

Loughc wrote: »

Some fond Christmas memories of the season/2020 were;

Just before Halloween Netflix added the animated version of the Grinch and it went straight to number 1 in their top 10. And Netflix tweeted well looks like ye guys decided it’s Christmas now.

ChristmasFM’s sudden unexpected online live launch.

Putting my decorations up, myself and my wife normally do this together but our leave days didn’t line up and I wasn’t waiting until after the toy show to put them up so I did it myself and I had the best day. ChristmasFM was blaring I was literally dancing and singing around the place putting everything up. It was just great fun.

Getting my own personalised tin of quality street, it’s something I thought about why didn’t they do it for years so I was so tickled I got to do it in 2020.

Christmas Eve for the second year in a row was a clear sky frosty grass night. Bring down in my parents you really can see the stars in the sky, it really brings out the magic of the night.

It really is the small things isn't it.

My favorite memory of Christmas gone was the Santa video we did for each of the kids. It's a website where you put in their name, age, where they live and a picture and it puts them in a video message from Santa and his elves.

We watched it on the TV a few days before Christmas when the Grandparents where here. They love it as much as the kids and the look of wonder in the kidsd faces just made it very special.

2020...what a year it was!

January and February, I was still on maternity leave, was doing all sorts of baby classes with my little boy, had my birthday and my career break was approved

March- BOOM! Everything changed. I vividly remember my last time in a shop, maskless and the fear creeping in. March 12th, Mr Price, to stock up on a few last minute bits. I remember making a list of everything we had to get us through those few weeks. How naive I was to think it would all be over in a few weeks!

Hubby began working from home from the 13th of March and he's still here. It's lovely to have the company but tough keeping a toddler out of his office!:D

The weeks went by and slowly things got cancelled...my dad's trip to Paris for a big birthday that I had booked, 2 weddings...it all seemed so unfair.

By August, things were looking up a bit. My little boy turned one. We were able to go to Newbridge Farm, the beach and the Zoo. We even had a little party with my family.

Then, BOOM....back to being stuck in.

Halloween was strange. We would usually have well over 100 kids call, this year, zero.

Then nice news, I'll be an auntie in June of 2021!

The build up to Christmas was tough...very tough. Things worked out and we were able to see my family for a couple of hours. Things felt normal and it was wonderful.

December ended with fear and frustration but with great appreciation for everything we have.

Overall, I've mixed emotions about 2020. I feel robbed of a lot of things. I feel I missed out on a lot as a new mammy. I'd such different plans for my career break BUT I'm also so grateful I've been home, safe, and not had the worry of going to work that so many others had, and still have.
As someone in the high risk category I know this has had a lasting impact on me. I worry about when I'll truly feel 'safe' again...when I'll enjoy going for a meal or haircut (both last done in February!!)

2021 starts with hope though. There's light at the end of the tunnel. I just need to keep safe till then