Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving this year didn't turn out as planned. It was supposed to be a big extended family to-do. Instead Levi brought covid to Texas. Then grandma and grandpa Cole got it. Then Uncle Scott, and Uncle Mike got it. Somehow we escaped even though Levi and Co. were at our house the night before. So we ended up having an unaffected member of each household bring their Thanksgiving contributions to the D & S Caldwells' house where everything got divvied up and brought home. It was definitely not how anyone would have chosen to have Thanksgiving Dinner, or how we would have guessed we'd be eating three years into this pandemic, but we were grateful to be healthy, and to at least get to eat the delicious food, even if it was with just our small family.

Per the tradition, the day after Thanksgiving we decorated for Christmas. Clara and Leona took decorating very seriously this year. They cleaned their room and then decorated with red, white, and green balloons, random Christmas things they scrounged up, and this manger, which they made from Legos and placed on their bookshelf.

Aunt Lana found a production of the Nutcracker and asked if any of us wanted to come too. Leona was the only taker from our house so she and I went together. It was beautiful and any worries I'd had about Leona getting bored proved to be unfounded. She enjoyed the whole thing and was the perfect companion to enjoy the beauty of the costumes, music, and dancing with. She was captivated from the opening note to the closing bow. It was so fun to get to go with her.

These were photos that I took for an ornament to be made during class parties. I figured I'd include them here for fun. Below is Ms. Ramsey, Leona's 3rd grade teacher.