We usually have a post per month, but this was not a normal year – again. We spent a local couple of months walking in the countryside and enjoying nature. Linda received a long service award for 25 years in the local council. She is now one of the strategic leads for school improvement and continues doing some external school evaluation (code). Sadly we said goodbye to a very old childhood friend Mary and at the same time restrictions thus enabled us to celebrate our niece Freya’s 18th birthday through the window – literally! First time seeing them for over a year and then for a few snatched minutes.
What a different Christmas we all experienced in 2020! We missed family and friends very much and had to celebrate a lot through Zoom. We were so sad that Samuel could not travel to be with us. How many people received a call while serving Christmas dinner to say that she was a close contact and might have Covid! Linda did, but remarkably neither Tom, Eleanor or Brenda caught it. An anxious few weeks!
What a year 2020 has been! I wonder how many Christmas newsletters contain that comment. We are so thankful that we have come to the end of this year safely and surrounded by the genuine love and companionship of family and friends, even if that has been remotely. We have been so grateful and aware of the gift of relationships at a time when it has been so hard to be together physically. Our hope and prayer is that you will be blessed this Christmas with a time of peace, love, hope and joy in the small things we are still able to do. Our greatest gift will be to be together as a family of four for the first time in over a year. We look forward with anticipation for the new year, with an opening up of our lives as the pandemic is hopefully brought under control. May we never take for granted the blessings of this life and the riches we have been given. With much love Linda x
Scroll down through the pages to follow our year, and even have a reminder of the year before. This year we have added to the previous blog. Remember to go through the ‘Older posts’ to at least get to the beginning of the year.
A Christmas newsletter by Tom– The voyage of 2020 aboard the HMS Bartletts in Britain
If the sinking of the Titanic was a ‘Night to remember’ then 2020 was a ‘Year to remember’!
In contrast, however, although Coronavirus has punctured humanity’s hull, the good ship remains watertight and afloat. Further belabouring the analogy, this crew of four has sailed on through seas both perilous and calm.
Eleanor’s journey entailed a nail-biting last minute return from Thailand pre-lockdown 1, to safe haven in the home port before relocating to Leeds. There she continues to teach Chinese children online, and plans to move into more permanent teaching. She has been known to work in a cocktail bar – I hear you start to sing that popular ditty!
Samuel has paused his voyages around London with a lovely shared flat anchorage in Bow by the canal.As a crew member in the civil service he has risen through the ranks in the Department for International Trade and is currently working in the North America team. We hope there’ll be much trade!
Linda and Tom have docked their ships at the home pier since the start of the pandemic, launching regular safe distance rescue missions out to schools and ex-offenders in distress.
We are all relived that the attempted of mutiny American democracy has been thwarted, and a new captain and first mate promises smoother sailing ahead. This bodes well for our family’s bi-cultural identity and stronger links between the US and UK; not to mention better chances of world peace and management of climate change.
When not keeping our vessel shipshape, Linda engages in her hobby of quilting, and is the proud owner of a new machine that will help her fashion ever more beautiful creations. Tom continues to create narrative for the Mayflower400 commemorations, despite the cancelling or postponement of all tours. He had an article on our ancestor, Howland, published in the Drapers Journal in London and helped to create DVD boxset on the pilgrim backstory in England. He also continues to ghost write and edit memoirs.
Samuel made his first visit home for his birthday in September and Tom and Linda took a visit up north to visit Eleanor in October, staying in a hotel in the beautiful town of Harrogate.
We keep in regular communication with our mothers and our families; Thanksgiving being spent in our support bubble with Linda’s mother. We’ve also set a new course, for a new pier in a new tier, when we hope to get together in our three households for Christmas.
We would like to keep in closer contact with your in 2021 – so sending out an SOS for Skypes, Zooms, or other forms of vocal or visual communication. Ahoy!
What a different Thanksgiving this year. The year of Zooms and small bubbles. Samuel and Eleanor cooked up a storm in their respective homes and Linda and Tom visited Brenda, Linda’s mum, in our support bubble.
The Bartlett Christmas News 2019 