Christmas without COVID (so far, anyway)

[dreamshark]

It seems that almost everybody I know got a little COVID for Christmas this year. So I guess we were amazingly lucky to get Amber and Lena in from Portland and back home again with only one cancelled/rebooked flight and nobody sick (at least so far). It was a very low key Christmas, but it was great. They came in late on Christmas Eve, but we had enough time to have our traditional dinner of oyster stew and latkes, open one present each, and read The Night Before Christmas. 


We had a different type of fir this year shaped like a prickly candelabra. It was a little challenging to decorate, or so I understand (Richard actually does pretty much all of it). It came out really nice, but distinctly different in flavor from the usual. To the uninitiated I'm sure it looks like all Richard's trees, with layers of blinking lights and color changing globes and rotating ornaments. 


Lena asked for "all SCIENCE gifts" this year and she got quite a few (because what sf fan isn't thrilled to be able to buy science gifts?). In this picture Uncle Thorin is helping Lena do an amazing science trick from her new Science Magic kit. It's a simple chemistry set where each project is presented as a magic trick, complete with a few extra props like white gloves and a magic wand. Very clever, and perfect for a theatrical 7-year-old.