The stockings were hung by the mantle with care..

It is getting close to Christmas! I am busy baking my famous red velvet, peppermint stick whoopie pies right now. I am going to make the dough for sugar cookies too so it is ready for my niece and nephew to roll out and decorate. I actually have next week off- as a healthcare worker, this NEVER happens. Of course it would happen during a pandemic in which it really isn’t safe to travel. I was dreaming of a white Christmas in Maine this year but the numbers make it seem not responsible to go, so my twin brother and I are going to stay in NC and try to make it the best Christmas it can be for his kids. We will “zoom” on Christmas morning with the Maine cousins. But man, I am so jealous of the already snowy fields up there. My niece has never been sledding! Can you believe it? I even bought LL Bean jackets for the nieces and nephew, to prepare their Southern blood for the cold Yankee air. Alas, there’s always next year.

I am already planning for an epic summer family reunion with my cousin Jess. Even if not everyone has had the vaccine at that point, we can do everything outside, so it will be safe. It is just impossible with those chilly nights up north to stay six feet away. My wife and I enjoyed egg nog in my childhood Santa mugs tonight and our presents are wrapped under the tree. I am ready!

The next letter continues the wedding planning of my grandparents. They also were having to get ready for a big event. My grandmother made her own dress and they got pictures taken after the fact when they could afford them. Their “honeymoon” happened a year afterward once they saved up. Enjoy the next couple pages in my Grandfather’s sweet cursive.