TWiP: Another Pandemic Christmas ⋆ Polka Dot Cottage

We found out, 24 hours before our scheduled Christmas Eve party with my extended family, that one of us had been exposed the day before to someone who just tested positive for COVID-19. It was a short exposure, and chances are that everything is fine, but we didn’t want to run the risk of bringing the virus with us to all of our relatives.

So, just like last year, we drove out to my mom’s house and dropped off / picked up gifts from the front steps. And once we got home, we connected via video to watch everybody open their gifts from three different locations: the gathering at Mom’s house, our family room, and a quarantined bedroom upstairs. It wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t terrible either, and I’m glad that we have the option of this type of alternate plan!

This morning, we tested those who were quarantined, and their negative test gained them entry to the family room for in-person gifting. We still made them sit six feet apart from the rest of us, though, just in case it was still too early for valid testing 😀 We’re skipping our gathering with the other side of the family today, too, and hanging out here instead.

We’ll know in a few days whether we truly dodged the COVID bullet 🤞🏻

So, what is This Week in Pictures?

It’s a roundup of the little (and big!) moments I have captured all week. Some of these images are posted on Instagram, but many aren’t posted anywhere but here. Some days there may be no photos, and other days there may be multiples. It’s more laid back than the Project 365s of previous years. You can learn more here 🙂

Photos taken with 📷 (Canon EOS 80D) or 📱 (Samsung Galaxy S9).

TWiP Clips

Here’s a very short video, featuring 1.5-second moments from the week:

Saturday

I hung up Santa several days ago, but it’s taken me a bit longer to clean up this room and put out the rest of the decorations.

Sunday

It’s a lovely afternoon for a cozy fire, and some Polaroid photos.

Monday

We want to do the responsible thing and get tested before our Christmas Eve and Christmas gatherings, but the universe it not making it easy.

After spending all morning scouring the New Jersey countryside for rapid COVID tests for additional peace of mind during our Christmas gatherings (🚨 Spoiler Alert: there are no tests to be found anywhere, and while there may still be gatherings, the jury is out on how peaceful our minds will be), I came home and made buttons. I filmed the process, because I promised you all TWO YEARS AGO that I would share how I make these to match my sweaters. But I hope you will understand if I postpone editing and sharing the video, because it’s December 20th, and this little elf still has some shopping to do 🤪

Wednesday

Here’s how I make polymer clay buttons to match my sweaters. There will be a blog post to go with this video, and it will go into detail and provide some additional context, but not until after Christmas.