Quiz #97. “Sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise!”
Expecting the unexpected as we head into Christmas, 2020 in Steve's Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz for December 22, 2020.
If you’re old enough, you’ll recognize this refrain from the 1960s TV comedy series, “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C” with Jim Nabors.
And so it was that on Monday night, December 21, 2020, Annie alerted me via text that she has an appointment to get the Pfizer vaccine next Monday. Just one day earlier, on our family’s Christmas Zoom, Annie had voiced her oft-stated pessimism that she would not get the vaccine until February (January at the earliest) because she’s a psychiatric social worker. However, because she had been called to work on Covid floors during the first wave of the pandemic helping dying patients to Zoom with family members, she’s considered part of the ICU staff. So, because they may be calling on her again to work in the ICU this winter, she will be protected, getting one of the first rounds of vaccines at Elmhurst Hospital.
She’s glad to know she’s getting the vaccine and it’s a relief for us. Help is on the way. She didn’t expect it, but “Sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise!” I texted her to suggest that the image of her getting the vaccine on December 28th might make the perfect final image in her 2020 photo book. This was the texted response from Annie.
Wow. Good Point.
Several weeks ago, I ordered photo Christmas ornaments from Shutterfly for our granddaughters Turner and Marin. With delivery delays across the country, I’d given up hope they might arrive before the holiday. And yet, “Sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise!” On Sunday morning, they were delivered to Michigan and Ted and Erica sent us this 0:33 video of Turner opening the box which I am sharing with permission (and gratitude).
“… I’ll hang them.”
Sunday we held a family Zoom with more than 20 people. We all participated in a grab-bag White Elephant gift exchange in which people got to “steal” presents from one another. I played Santa Claus and Sara was Ms. Claus, sitting next to me with her laptop, keeping track of who picked what gift on a Google Sheet. The gift exchange took an hour, but here is the “Behind-the-Scenes” version in a 0:26 time lapse video.
As noted in Quiz #95. Santa Scissorhands, Sara and I spent much of Saturday testing how to run the gift exchange on Zoom. Our plan had been for her to share her screen, showing the Google Sheet and pulling up links to show the gifts people had chosen, but that was greeted with groans when she first shared her screen. People wanted to see one another’s faces. Santa and Ms. Claus pivoted and went low-tech with me holding up craft sticks close to the camera on my laptop to represent each person and each gift. Sara still kept track on the Sheet and I just looked over at her laptop to see where things stood, explaining it on the Zoom.
A photo of each person was glued to the top of a craft stick. Those sticks were then drawn from a ceramic Santa jar to determine the order of who picked first, etc.
In addition, each gift was assigned a letter and an index card image of that present was then glued to a craft stick with the "gift" covered in wrapping paper. Those index cards were pinned to a corkboard and I plucked them from the board when the gifts were chosen, “unwrapping” them in front of the laptop’s camera to reveal the present.
3 images above, “How it started.” Below, “How it ended.”
My $20 grab-bag gift for the exchange was 5 21-ounce boxes of Cheez-Its, $4.50 each.
On Friday, I’d talked with friends at work about the gift exchange and they’d all agreed that 5 big boxes of Cheez-Its were a great gift for 2020. A perfect pandemic snack.
I am surprised to report that the Cheez-Its were not a big hit. They were not even stolen once (a badge of shame in a gift grabbag with stealing) and my 96-year-old stepmother ended up with them. (We're sending her a book instead. Don’t tell the others. It’s a violation of the family gift exchange rules.)
Monday night, Sara got a text from her friend Phyllis. It’s quintessential 2020. As noted in Quiz #65. Dog Days, this summer, Sara had backyard, socially distanced evening visits with Phyllis and their mutual friend, Lori. One visit was cut short when they heard a loud splash from the small river that runs behind our house. They dubbed the unseen creature, “The River Monster.” Several days later, we discovered that a six-point buck had camped himself in the brush at the bottom of the bank behind our house. He stood there brazenly as I snapped his picture. This summer, Sara sent that picture of the deer to Phyllis and Lori. Monday night, Phyllis texted it back, adding her own text.
And so here we stand. Tuesday morning, December 22nd, just days away from a Christmas celebration that’s sure to be altered, isolated and muted for so many.
Celebrate the surprises when they come--and they will.
Help is on the way.
What did NOT happen?
A. I recorded the family Zoom. It’s 2 hours long;
B. During the family Zoom, we discussed the advantages of bidets and how they work;
C. When the gift exchange was over, I ended up with a “Toilet Timer;”
D. The most-stolen item in the gift exchange was a candle from Anthropologie;
E. Among the more than 20 gifts that were submitted anonymously, only one gift was submitted twice. It was Obama’s book, “A Promised Land.”
Want the answer?
Answer #97. “Sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise!”
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 #98. “MFC.”
Here’s the previous quiz in the series: Quiz #96. Santa Scissorhands.
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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