A December Covid List

Morning all. This is meant to be a mainly uplifting holiday post, but first I'm allowing my inner whine to come out. Moving is expensive, the costs are still piling up (paying off the move, registering even an old car for the first time is more than I thought, I didn't cancel an previous insurance and thought I had, and the list goes on). As I said elsewhere, I know that in 2021 this will be better for both finances and health, but meanwhile, I'm close to having one of those moments, lol, even as I know this too shall pass.

Enough of that, onward and forward..

Wednesday has become a three Zoom meeting day. I have my knitting group at two, then my "second Half" church tea at four (today we did trivia and drank and I, as always, won), and then another thing at seven in the evening. On the one hand, it's nice to have the options and connection, but on the other hand, I really kinda wish it were divided over a few days, ya know? At least I have these connections, as everything helps these days.

Because this year, just like for everyone else, it's a completely different kind of Christmas round here.  I'm in a new place and barely settled, I'm living alone, the place and things are different (but good) and of course, the pandemic that hangs over us all.

Way back at the start of November I had a tentative bucket and goal list, one that was unrealistic with all the moving and things going on, to say the least. I decided I need a December (and January ) list to help me move forward, but I left all the pumpkin and fall things behind. I need things to keep me engaged, create new traditions maybe, and distract. It's an moving target of a list,but for now these are my plans and goals for the rest of December and onward. Any other ideas?  What are you doing?

• Make a gingerbread house with my daughter (this is already planned)
• Have an advent tradition each week (FB readers know I sent my wreath back because it was not stable and am using regular jarred colored candles instead)
• Take at least one evening drive (maybe a couple, I've put the word out on where I should go) to see Christmas lights
• Help Others. I joined a FB group called "Won't You Be My Neighbor (our town)", that does things for others in need of who are feeling down. The cards are obviously my first project but there will be more.
• Have at least one Christmas marathon movie night with all the trimmings and junk food (suggestions are welcome as long as they don't include Love Actually).
• Make Christmas cookies and send them to Colorado and give them away (but keep many for me)
• Participate in all the community offerings, different as they may be.  Each Thursday there is something going on-Holiday treats day, Holiday tea, Holiday Cookies, Breakfast.  All now in grab and go form of course (interesting with the tea thing). But even masked and socially distanced it's a chance to chat with folks in the neighborhood and meet more people.
• Continue to walk outside every day the weather is decent (decent is relative to where you live obviously and today is a high of fifty and cloudy and wet so I will not go, but the next week is sunny and sixties. My walk to get the mail is twenty minutes).
• Make a new Christmas play list that is mainly choral music and instrumental Christmas.
• Decide if I will go to daughter and son-in-law and spend the night and the day or I will start my own Christmas Eve tradition alone at home and go there after lunch.
• Plan a twelve days of Christmas routine (because Christmas begins on December 25 people, not now).
• Try and make at least one small handmade gift for each person since the normal crafting time of my life was on hold for a couple (few) months.

More goal oriented stuff:

• Work on my annual goals (mainly done)
• Register for Olli classes in the new year (catalog comes out this month)
• Deal with car issues in the new state
• Set up a bunch of subscribe and save deliveries for both kids on Amazon to commence in January (Christmas is very lean and low key so this is one my way of spreading gifting throughout the year of both needs and wants)
• Along the same vein, explore subscription of hobby type gifts for both offspring (looking at escape game type packages monthly for my son or really difficult adult lego models as options) for the next few months.
• Start looking at plans for the winter to keep the boredom at bay.
• Begin a FB group having to do with frugal retirement and fixed income living.

Today I am cheating and allowing Instacart to deliver from Aldi. I forgot that my son got me an annual membership last year, and so all I need to do is pay the tip, and I'm having a lazy day (grocery shopping is never social for me, even in the time of Covid).