Dana Burland

This was a hard year. A year I don’t particularly care to recap. So I won’t… truly. But at some point my memories will become hazy (or traumatically repressed!) and I’ll wonder. Here’s a little look at our 2020: We’ve largely been home–with extreme, only as necessary, regulations on where we’ll go out and who is allowed in–for 5 of the 12 months this year. Several significant family members have yet to meet A in person. He’s 1 now. Walking and babbling and cutting teeth at a rapid rate. It’s heartbreaking to think about family moments that have been missed. We did not have any major plans, milestones or moments canceled. We had a newborn at home, so 2020 was not a year we planned to be out and about much anyway. A friend’s May wedding we were invited to was canceled. The boys’ birthdays were small events held at home. We celebrated all the major winter holidays at home just the four of us–and we did ok. We never ran out of toilet paper, but we couldn’t always find it when we wante...

Look, I’m not going to tell you this was an amazing Christmas. It’s been almost two months since we’ve seen family or friends and we’re in a stretch of several days cooped up inside with two wonderful, but wild little boys. I’m feeling the weight of what we’re all missing–milestones and moments together, community and camaraderie, a breather from everything we’re blessed with. We did what we could though, and made some (albeit very isolated) memories I don’t want to forget–starting the week leading up to Christmas: We made gingerbread cookies from scratch, which made just enough for us and neighbor gifts C announced he’d like Santa to bring him maple syrup and a race car, which honestly sound like good gifts for just about anyone I made ⅓ of the Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Roll recipe , which still yielded 20 rolls! We wrote a letter to Santa with C. It was heavily focused on the aforementioned syrup and race car I made this Swedish meatball recipe for Christmas Eve, and it was SO goo...

Wow was the level of effort with our holiday card photo shoot HIGH this year. While B got ready I tried to set up the shot while fielding all the concerned “why?” questions from C and playing goalie to the tripod and extra lamp due to a speedy, grabby-handed A. I was quite pleasantly surprised with the entire gang’s level of participation. I snapped a slew of photos and had a couple contenders for the final card. I’m not super sure the theme we were going for came across though? The idea was me, gung-ho about matching family jammies, an idea B has always been adamantly *insert emoji with man crossing arms over his face* about. I think I needed a more thrilled, “hey, check out what I got for us!” face. Ah well. Funny side note: C was SUPER concerned about why Daddy wasn’t in the jammies, and emotionally distraught over Daddy’s fake sad face. I can’t hang our card on our fridge because I know seeing it again will worry him. Sweet boy. Here’s a take-away for next year: this spot suck...

How big is too big to not be little anymore? You, my little one, are one year old now. And you’re not so little. You in fact are full of big, face-stretching smiles; loads of agility and grace; depths of patience. You’re sturdy, steady and sure of yourself. A year ago, three weeks/five days and two holidays ahead of your due date, we were in the hospital preparing to meet you. We were visited by a NICU nurse who said your early arrival could come with complications. She might need to intervene quickly, she warned us, as your lungs might not be ready yet. You might be too little. But little one, you were just right. Big enough that when you arrived, right after noon on a wildly warm Saturday in December, so many surprising days ahead of when you were expected, the NICU nurse took one look at you and bowed right out of the room. You were sturdy, steady and sure of yourself. Now I can feel your littleness as I squeeze you tight in my arms and I see your bigness in your boldn...

This year makes two years in a row we’ve not had a Hanukkah party! Actually, I think that makes not having a Hanukkah party more of a tradition than having one. Sigh. Anyway, with C a bit older and wiser, I wanted to up the attention to this holiday this year. Here’s what we did: Hanukkah Books I find it extremely difficult to find kid’s Hanukkah stories I like. I found these together did a nice job of explaining the holiday and weaving it into a fun story: Grover’s Eight Nights of Hanukkah (A Sesame Street Book) The Hanukkah Bear Paper Chain This year I made a Hanukkah 2020 Paper Chain. There’s a link for each night, with something written inside about what we get to do that night. I’m hoping it’ll reinforce the idea this is eight nights, and bring some excitement. This year’s links: present nights, candy nights, movie night, dance party nights, potato pancakes for dinner night. Candle Lighting We’ll do this nightly with the boys, and will let C do as much as safe/possible...