A very 2020 Christmas get-together

Keeping up holiday tradition as well as possible under the circumstances, Kathy hosted a virtual version of the annual Yonkers Christmas party on Dec. 27. Family members Zoomed in from up and down the East Coast to exchange Christmas greetings as well as wishes for a much better 2021.

In this checkerboard version of a family photo, we see (top row) Austin in Florida, Dan & Julie in New Jersey, Kathy in Yonkers, and Genevieve with Jack (and John off-screen) in Manhattan; (2nd row) Kevin, Kathy and Kevin in Yonkers, Vivien, CJ and baby Austin in New Jersey (Charlie was napping), Andy and Wren in Middleburgh, NY; (3rd row) Ellen and Owen on Cape Cod (with Lizzie offscreen), Beatrice upstairs from her mom, Christine (with Jamie offscreen) in New Hampshire and Marie in Virginia; and (bottom row) Kelsey and Patrick in northern Westchester (visiting Kelsey's parents), Brien in Yonkers and Mary (with Roger offscreen) in Malta, NY. Also taking part but not captured in this screenshot were Shanna, Rick and Lucy. 

Snow scenes from mid-December storm

The first significant snowstorm of the season hit the Northeastern U.S. on Dec. 16-17. Among our family members, Andy and Wren seem to have had the heaviest snowfall: About 28 inches, as measured on their deck the morning of the 17th.

While they've had snow on their northern-Catskills property before, this was the deepest since they moved in at the end of January.

Most of their chickens took one look at the piled-up snow and opted to stay in their coop. This one ventured out, hopped atop the snow and tried to plow its way into the yard before retreating.

At Birch Street headquarters in New Jersey, there was far less snow than forecast: maybe 6 inches instead of a foot-plus.

With no need to go anywhere, Dan and Julie were able to just enjoy the view. (And paid a couple of enterprising young men with shovels to clear their driveway.)

The Philadelphia area was about as far south as the snow reached.

The city received 6-7 inches in what the Philadelphia Inquirer called the region's first major winter storm in 1,000 days.

Cathy took these photos of the pretty scene as the snow fell in her suburban neighborhood.