Days With the Duerksens

As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20.  According to the internet, this expression means:   It's easier to analyze and evaluate situations when we're looking back on them in the past, than when we're in the present moment. Will this hold true?  In 2021, will we look back on this year and see how it made us better, more resilient, more flexible, more understanding?  I hope so!  Even though it was a challenging year, there were plenty of good moments, and I imagine we will understand those better the further away we get from the year 2020. Our Christmas Letter from this past year: December 2020 Dear Friends and Family, What a year!  Despite the difficulties and unexpected moments of this past year, we were able to pick out our ‘top 10’ memories – the good and the bad – from 2020: 10. School suddenly changed last March.  The last 7 weeks were spent learning online.  However, Megan was thankful to still have a job while so many did not have that...

 We ended our Christmas celebrations with a gathering of the Duerksen side - over Zoom, of course!  It was great to see our family from California on the screen since it has now been a whole year since we've seen them in-person.  This might be the longest time we have gone between visits!  Grandma and Grandpa delivered boxes to each household, and the kids opened them up while we met.  Grandma and Grandpa had their hands busy creating Christmas gifts.  Each grandchild received a new pillow (made with jeans scraps) and the shepherds to add to their nativity scenes.  What special gifts that will be cherished for many years to come! Grandpa is sneaking in a picture too (bottom left)  :)

Christmas Day felt remarkably normal!  It was just the 5 of us, together, in the living room, like any other year (or maybe like every other day we experienced this year)! :)  It was a good day, and we were blessed to be together: healthy, happy, and loved! Delaney enjoyed wrapping Caiden's gift - a tiny little gift card in several large boxes, complete with jokes! Cambry's new holder for her glasses It was a beautiful day to enjoy our new K-State cornhole game from my sister's family! Cheers!  We enjoyed our regular Christmas Eve meal on Christmas night:  BBQ meatballs, cheesy potatoes, zwieback, and stir-fried peas (our own addition), complete with plenty of Christmas goodies.

 Trying to keep everyone safe and healthy, we gathered for Christmas Eve at our own houses.  I so missed meeting at my parents' house for supper and gifts, but Caiden was finishing up a quarantine, and we just really wanted to keep them safe.  Vaccines are coming, though!  As we've become accustomed to, we saw everyone over Zoom.  Earlier, we had exchanged gifts so we could open them while we met.  Once everyone was set up, we enjoyed visiting and opening presents.  Technology can be amazing, and that is one thing we have learned to be grateful for this year!  We have also learned that a pandemic and changes in plans cannot stop us from celebrating Jesus!

Usually, leading up to Christmas break, we have a number of programs to attend - piano recital, grade school program, band concerts, the church Christmas Eve program.  This year, of course, we didn't actually 'attend' any of these.  Instead, the teachers and leaders worked hard to provide video performances.  This meant we watched all the programs from the comfort of our living room!  We actually enjoyed this quite a bit, but we were mindful of the fact that this would have been Delaney's last elementary school Christmas program, and of course, the sound through video is just not the same as actually being there.  Nevertheless, we were grateful for the efforts of all who made the video performances possible! Delaney's class had a graduation 'ceremony' from the LEAD program - an anti-drug curriculum they had been working through all semester.  Quinli, Claire, and Delaney were chosen to do a little presentation as part of the ceremony.  They worked hard ...