#AMonthOfFaves: Favourite Things

It's time for #AMonthOfFaves with Kim and Tanya at GirlXOXO. I have a soft spot in my heart for this month of prompts because, in 2018, #AMonthOfFaves is what got me back into regular blogging. This year, thanks to the pandemic, I struggled with my reading and didn't read a lot of new books. I turned to comfort reads (like Nora Roberts) or (gasp!) didn't read at all. It was very sad.

So I'm skipping most of the reading related prompts this year and joining in on the non-reading ones. And this one hit me -- much as 2020 sucked (a lot), there were some great things which happened this year. So I'm telling you about the good of 2020. "Recipes tried, happy moments, shows watched, skills learned or just 5 things you appreciated about 2020" is what the prompt said, and my response is 10 Things I'm Thankful For From 2020.

1) Health, home, family

I am so thankful for my family. I was single for a very long time (until I was 35) and I cannot imagine living alone during this time of isolation. My heart aches for my single friends as I can imagine how hard it is to be alone so much. I'm also thankful we get along, for the most part!

I'm also thankful we have a home we love with a great yard and I'm thankful for our health. None of us have underlying conditions so I'm thankful that is not something else I have to be stressed about.

 

2) The cruise we took in January with my parents

We booked this Disney cruise back in October of 2018. We had been looking forward to it for sixteen months. I know many people had to cancel big vacations which they had been looking forward to for a long time as well. We enjoyed our vacation to the fullest and I'm so thankful we planned it for when we did.

We had so much fun on our cruise, and when we left, Covid wasn't "a thing." When we flew back home, we were in customs and people getting off planes from China were wearing masks. I asked Dave, "What's going on in China???" How naive we all were at the end of January.

3) Our family newspaper

Inspired by a friend on Instagram, our family put out a weekly newspaper for nine weeks of quarantine. Everyone contributed something every day and I'm so thankful we have the kids' perspective on quarantine, as well as my and Dave's thoughts. Our newspaper gave us a way to "have fun" with some of the things happening in our family during that time. And yes, it still bothers me that we ended with the 9th edition as opposed to a round number like 10 :) 

4) The fact the kids have been in school all fall.

 

I hope I will never take for granted that our kids get to go to school in person. I think our province has done a phenomenal job with getting kids back into the schools. While there have been cases in the schools (and classes which have had to quarantine), there have been very few outbreaks in the 120 schools in our region, which I think is really impressive.

5) The fact that Sam and Rachel rarely fight

 

These kids had to spend more time together than they ever had to and they still aren't sick of each other. I know our weeks of family togetherness could have been filled with fighting, boredom, and tears but these two rocked being quarantined. Even after spending all day together, they still wanted sleepovers. These two have always been each other's best friends and 2020 proved that once again.

6) These Applesauce Jumble cookies

I know these cookies have only been in my life for less than a month but they are seriously one of the best recipes I've found in a long time. Make these cookies. You can find the recipe from Holly here. That's all :)

7) Blog Friends Happy Hour, and more recently, book club

 

Okay, as much as 2020 has sucked and we are relegated to seeing our closest, local friends through Zoom, it did give me the idea to have Zoom Happy Hour with some blog friends. After a few monthly happy hours, it turned into a book club, picking up another blog friend along the way. Before Covid it would have been monumentally awkward and weird to suggest meeting blog friends on Zoom. Covid normalized it and this has honestly been one of the best things to come out of Covid for me.

8) Our back yard

As many of you have, we spent so much time in our backyard this past summer. I'm so thankful for our trampoline, our play centre, and our table and chairs which were all handed down to us by friends. I'm thankful for having a great green space to play, read, and relax in.

9) Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings and Hallmark Movies

We are not big TV watchers but 2020 has been the year of needing sweet and predictable. Thus, Rachel and I especially, got into watching Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings and Hallmark movies. Once we're able to see our friends and resume a little more of a normal life, I think our addiction to these will end but for right now, they are both a great way to waste a little time in quarantine.

 

10) Unified country, more or less.

Canada is not perfect but I've been so grateful for our leaders at all levels of government -- national, provincial, and local. It feels like they are (outwardly, at least) on the same page and allowing the health professionals to provide the messaging for Canada's Covid response. I appreciate that, in general, our population is listening to the science and following recommendations. I really don't want to take this for granted.

Also, not every single Canadian is following the rules, or the science. We do have our fair share of anti-maskers and people hosting parties, despite the restrictions, but I would say we are not divided as a country in general.

And honorable mention...

11) Covid memes!!!

'Nuff said :)