Being grateful

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Buon Natale, Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad! 

Let's see what has been going on. Well, Covid (does it really deserve a capital "C"??) has changed SO much for everyone. There are so many disappointments for so many this year. I'll pause here just to try and think of so many that were struck down by this terrible virus...

Still there were beautiful things. Babies were born, people were married (albeit a bit differently). We all learned new ways to do things. Zoom, Skype, Face Time, What's App. Hours spent with those we love via cameras. Doug and I enjoyed some short and some long (2.5 hour) Skype "Happy Hour" calls with friends. Nothing like just sitting on your own couch to laugh and share stories! Perhaps we will all learn more patience and kindness to others. We have learned to "stay apart while staying together". 

It has been quite a ride and I believe not too much will change immediately going into 2021 and we are prepared for that. No point in having unreal expectations. We need to continue to be vigilant and careful. Wash your hands, wear your masks!! We will wait, anxiously, for our turn to be vaccinated. Roll up your sleeves.

So, onto our slight re-cap of our year: As some of you may remember we bought "Filmore", our new to us motorhome last year. Ha, little did we know we couldn't really go anywhere! Still, we worked through the year upgrading and adding our touches inside to make it seem more like "us". Our first trip out was July. Local camping and to the Kootenay area for 7 days. September we went to Golden Ears Provincial Park, just one hour from home. Loved it. Thanksgiving found us out at another close by provincial park for a few days with our kids (in our bubble). So, all in all, not bad for a pandemic year.

Our three beautiful boys are just that, beautiful. We couldn't love them more. Our hearts are really full. Really thankful.

Plans for us? Let's see. Well, I retired on Christmas Eve (queue the trumpets.....). Doug has opted to work until the end of April. After that our loosely knit plan is to camp here in the area on the May long weekend then leave for the Kootenays for a week, over to Medicine Hat for a week and then head north with our final destination of Tuktoyaktuk which is as far north as you can drive in Canada. My bucket list is to be there on the longest day of the year, also my birthday, June 20th (it may be the 21st for that longest day of the year but who's counting a day or two!). We are planning on a run into the Arctic Ocean. It should be an interesting time. Doug will have the furnace cranked up in Filmore. Don't worry, we will film it (live stream-if we can figure out how!) Fingers crossed.

After that in the fall, who knows. I guess if things continue to go decently on the vaccination/Covid front we will continue to camp here on the west coast. Almost gingerly I will say that IF IF IF things are okay, we will head to Mexico about January 2nd, 2022. Again, fingers crossed. 

So, in a nutshell here are a snippet of pictures. As you can see, we were very grateful and thankful for our year.....

January - Doug's birthday

The ever popular Grandma T....my mom, Nadyne!

 

February - Rudy came to town (with his parents too!)

May - Filmore got unwrapped!

June - some jobs were done. Mostly by Doug!

July - got to camp with our bubble family

Still in July - got to see our Kootenay family & camp

August - My mom's 87th birthday! She's amazing!

September - local camping trip

October - Thanksgiving camping

My always popular and famous foot shot!

Halloween crazies, first dragons

Butterfly with his kittie friend....

November - Never forget

December - already?

Mostly this year, we give our thanks to our front-line workers. 

We are all eternally grateful!!

Peace out friends.....

Thought for the Day - In the words of our illustrious BC Provincial Health leader, Dr Bonnie Henry - "Be kind, be calm and be safe"