Quiz #95. “This is about as 2020 as it gets.”
Why sitting with Santa is even more abnormal this year plus the science of holiday newsletters in Steve's Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz for December 17, 2020.
Thursday morning, December 17th, 4:03AM. Awake too early--again.
In part, it’s ongoing anxiety about the pandemic, but on this morning there was also the curiosity and excitement of waking up to take a look out the window to see just how much snow we got overnight. The answer, a bit of a disappointment (depending on your perspective), at least here in our part of New Jersey. Just 5 inches--and well below the predicted 12.
I like big snow storms--and there is nothing like a snow day. In my morning check of social media, this letter from a school superintendent stood out from the Twitter feed of NBC’s Kate Snow. It’s worth a read.
Before going to sleep Wednesday, my boss sent out an email to our team, letting us know that anyone who wanted to work from home because of the snow should do so. The joke, of course, is we’ve all been working from home since March.
For me, the snow means that I get to use one of my favorite things: my snowblower. There are few things more satisfying than having a snowblower and then getting to use it in a big storm. Overly loud and uber efficient. On snow days, any homeowner who doesn’t own a snowblower wishes they did. This morning, as is my usual practice, after clearing our driveway (seen below) and front walk, I took the snowblower up and down our block to clear the sidewalk for any walkers. I like big snow storms.
Happy in the snow this morning. She loved it.
I also like Christmas and it’s hard to believe that it’s one week away. I know that people say that every December, but this year I find I am losing track of time from day to day with the slow-motion disaster unfolding over these last few months with a record number of new cases followed one week later by a record number of hospitalizations followed two weeks after that by a record number of deaths. It all feels like a blur--and quite frankly, it’s hard to make sense of it all. Beyond hunkered down, we’re waiting for this second tidal wave to be over--and it hasn’t even crested yet.
Our immediate family remains uninfected but more and more, we are hearing from friends and family about people who have Covid. Last Friday evening, December 13th, I came inside from walking the dogs and could not stop coughing. Though I could still smell, I was also congested and the cough hurt in my chest. Sara and I both went into quiet panic. I took some Nyquill, isolated myself in the guest bedroom and went to bed early. I woke up feeling worse, my cough more pronounced but I still had no fever and could smell. We decided I should to go to the Urgent Care Center run by our local medical group for a Covid test. Sara broke out our Covid care kit and I wore latex gloves and one of the N95 masks we’d saved in case one of us got infected.
Last weekend, we broke out our Covid kit in case it was needed. Thankfully, it was not.
The rapid test was negative and when I returned home, Sara and I talked (on the phone from separate rooms) about our worries of dying in this pandemic. Sara was worried about all of the work of closing our affairs being left to the 5 of children and she was so sorry that they would have to do all of that on top of losing us. I was worried the children would not be able to figure out my system for organizing and accessing our family photos. I isolated all weekend and slept most of the time, back to normal (or as normal as I get) by Tuesday.
Sara’s told me that in disaster relief work, mental health professionals are taught that action binds anxiety. In the face of the pandemic, I’ve been trying to stay busy, to make sure that I can look back at the end of the day and say I got some things done--even if they are the extreme things that I do (like writing this quiz).
As mentioned in Quiz #94. “… it glows,” this year I am organizing an extended family Zoom which will include a virtual grab-bag gift exchange in which 25 people will steal presents from one another. In that quiz, I detailed the props I plan to use to track who gets which present. When one of my readers saw this, they emailed me with a link to whiteelephantonline.com, an online service that actually helps you run a virtual gift exchange/steal. As this person is wont to do, there was no explanation in the email, just the link. Still, fearing it might be spam, I did not click on the link and emailed back a question mark, checking if it was spam. The response was, “An easier way to do a virtual gift exchange” to which I responded, “And why would I want an easier way?” which elicited this final response in the email chain, “Silly me.”
NOTE WELL: This individual is known to more than a few quiz readers, but I have chosen not to identify this individual here because they’re the sort of person who does not like attention drawn to themselves--despite a finer appreciation than most for the small things in life that merit attention.
Also as mentioned in Quiz #94. “… it glows,” I have been busy with Christmas cards and our holiday newsletter, written in the form of a quiz. Because of Covid, we did not print the holiday quiz this year. It’s online and on demand. People have to ask to read it and the requests have not been flooding in. (Imagine that.) People have the option to read the quiz and get the right answers from the provided answer key on their own--or they can actually take our holiday quiz as a Google Form and get graded with results posted to a Google Sheet. So far, only 13 brave people have chosen the graded option. Beyond Sara, there has been only one perfect score, Nicole, a friend of Annie’s. Still, Nicole’s score is noted on the Google Sheet with an asterisk. An investigation has revealed that Nicole took the quiz twice, less than 10 minutes apart, using one email address with her married name and then another with her maiden name. She scored 37 the first time and 100 the next.
This week, as always, a handful of the cards we sent out have been returned as people move and change addresses from 2019. One of the returned cards was from Dr. Ann Burnett, a university professor whom I have never met. Still, I’ve been sending Dr. Burnett our Christmas quiz since 2014. In 2014, I read Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid Schulte. In the book, Schultz interviewed Dr. Burnett because Burnett actually studies holiday newsletters. One of Burnett's observations noted in “Overwhelmed” is that holiday newsletters are often written as badges of honor to being busy. When I read this and discovered that someone was actually studying holiday newsletters, I decided to do my part for science. I’ve sent our holiday quiz to Burnett’s academic office since 2014. There’s never been a response, but when the 2020 card we’d sent to Burnett’s office was returned, I turned to Google and found an email address for Burnett. It turns out she’s retired and when I reached out to her, she sent me her new mailing address and said that in retirement, she’s hoping to finally have time to write her book on holiday newsletters. I thought she might be joking, but as we emailed back and forth, she indicated that she’s especially interested in newsletters from 2020 and how those newsletters address the pandemic. She asked me to forward any newsletters we’ve received this year which I am going to do after getting permission from the senders. So, if you’re a fan of holiday newsletters and want yours to be part of science and understanding 2020, let me know and I will connect you with Dr. Burnett. She’ll pay postage and in her words, “I’d be happy to have you highlight my keen desire for letters.” She also took our holiday quiz. She scored a 26, 2 right out of 8. Not bad for someone who’s never met our family—and I appreciate her playing along.
To keep myself productive, I also continue to scan old family photos, a few hundred each week. In the last week, I came across this image from 1992 of Betsy with Santa. It really is amazing that we take little children and sit them down in the arms of a strange old man and tell them to smile.
Nothing’s normal in 2020 and this year, Santa’s wearing a face shield (or a mask and maybe sitting behind a piece of plastic). Our daughter-in-law Erica posted this picture to social media of our granddaughter's Turner and Marin with Santa. It’s reprinted with Erica’s permission. Her caption, “This is about as 2020 as it gets.”
What did not happen?
A. In reaching out to family members for the Christmas Zoom, I found out that my niece Kate has a gmail account which, like me, she uses to access Google documents. Her gmail address includes the letters, “RTJR.” I asked her what that stood for--and she told me it’s “Raise the Jolly Roger” which is what the Pittsburgh Pirates announcers say when Kate’s beloved Pirates win;
B. In a text exchange with several family members, my niece indicated that she’d be able to attend the family Zoom. I texted back, “RTJR.” My sister, Ginny, Kate’s mother, did not know what that meant and she told me she went to Google and the Urban Dictionary to find out the meaning, unaware of Kate’s seldom-used gmail account;
C. Annie texted that she watched “Ted Lasso” on our recommendation and loved it;
D. For Betsy’s 30th birthday, we gathered in the backyard for socially distanced cupcakes;
E. When I got sick last weekend, I also scheduled a Covid test with the county but there wasn’t an opening until several days later. Will took the appointment to make sure he’s Covid-free before the holiday.
Want the answer?
Answer #95. “This is as 2020 as it gets.”
If you’re a subscriber, the answer will be sent to you as a separate email when the question is published.
Want more?
Here’s the next quiz in the series: Quiz #96. Edward Scissorhands
Here’s the previous quiz in the series: Quiz #94. “… it glows.”
Here’s the first quiz in the series: Quiz #1. Stella and Social Distancing, March 13, 2020
Here is an archive of all the quizzes.
The quiz is explained here: Steve’s Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz.
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