Friday 5 for December 18: Year in review part 1

1. Who made you laugh most this year? My husband, and not just because he’s the person I’ve seen the mot of by far. He’s been making me laugh since we were cramming in hours of late-night chats when neither of us should’ve been awake.
2. In what ways was 2020 better than 2019? I realize this year has been an all-around mess, with COVID and its related problems, but honestly, 2019 was horrible for my family and 2020 far surpasses it. In 2019, my brother was physically attacked at his job, then got fired, my husband found out he’d soon be losing his job, and my dad was diagnosed with the tumor that killed him within about six months. The bright spot was Eliana. This year, although my husband ultimately did lose that job, our son was born, and everyone is fine. No one is sick. No one is dead. We have an adorable, happy baby boy. It’s a win.
3. What was the best movie or TV series you saw in 2020? …surely I watched a film at some point in 2020, but I swear I don’t remember. We focus a lot on shows. So my picks there are Good Omens, The Mandalorian, Unsolved Mysteries, Dead to Me, and The Affair, with a small caveat of I’m about to start the last season of The Affair and so far feel that the first season was its absolute strongest. The new Twilight Zone was also solid this year and an improvement from season one, in my opinion.
4. What was your favorite food discovery of 2020? I was pregnant for about the first six months of the year and locked down for about 3/4 of it, so I don’t think I actually tried anything new. Pregnancy meant navigating the puking, so we weren’t going out until right before COVID hit, plus the many foods they suggest you avoid while pregnant. And after the baby was born, by then, COVID was in full swing and we still weren’t going anywhere, and anything we were cooking wasn’t super adventurous. I did make a great potato soup, though.
5. What’s something nice you purchased for yourself or received as a gift in 2020? My son! That’s a cheesy answer. But honestly, my birthday was low-key and right before he was born, so that’s a bit of a blur. You know what? My baby shower in and of itself. Because even though everything was for him, it was very strange times and it meant a lot to me that even though we just did a drive-by shower, some people came from as far as they did to be there. People will talk about feeling surrounded by love on their wedding day and women will talk about it at their baby showers, but something about the weirdness of it and the fact that people took that time and effort had more impact.

From Friday 5.