.....covid Christmas

Yogis,
It’s Monday morning and the final car has pulled away. The house is once again quiet as I reflect on the past 4 days…..

Thursday evening. Cookies baked, refrigerator overflowing, wood stacked neatly by the fireplace, covid rapid tests done.  Christmas songs were playing in the background and all that was left to do was wait for the family to begin descending in an hour. The phone rings and it is my youngest son saying that although his test read negative, he is a bit achy. Sigh…… We all agree he should drink plenty of fluids, get a good night’s sleep and retest in the morning.

Morning arrives, and with it his test now reads positive. Covid has joined our holiday celebration without an invitation.

We all whip into action. Hollandaise sauce made and put in a bag with eggs, muffins and ham. Christmas stocking stuffed. Cookies, bagels and presents loaded into the cars and the nine of us head over the river and through the woods to his house, with a quick stop at CVS for a new thermometer (since nothing says Christmas like a thermometer!) Everything is artfully placed on his front stoop as he waves from the window.

He steps out as we mask up and sing carols from afar. Our traveling cooler is opened and beverages are passed around.

Christmas morning as we gather round the tree we add a seat for my computer and although many complain of zoom fatigue, I was once again so grateful for its ability to bring us together. One at a time we opened and oohed and aahed over gifts. The hat we bought him went right on and the slippers from his grandparents quickly replaced the ones on his feet which had holes he could show us.

That night as the tenderloin cooked on the grill and the men donned their caps and scarves for the annual manly men cigar smoking tradition, James was brought in via facetime….. hat and all. He moved through the house with us, heard the jokes and got to see his niece and nephew. If he couldn’t come, Christmas was being brought to him.

Covid was ever present this holiday season. Calls from relatives, my nephews basketball coach and friends that now have it in their home. We masked up when my pregnant daughter-in-law and grandkids were here and popped champagne bottles with others on the front yard as the sun set. Instead of lunch out I built a fire in the firepit and smudged everyone with sage. We hiked, we laughed until our sides hurt and ate way too much.

In early covid days, some of the kids on our street made signs and hung them on poles. Words about kindness and looking for the good. They have been there so long I had stopped noticing them until I kept passing one that had fallen off and was now laying on a lawn. ‘It is what it is’

It is what it is.

Covid came to many of us unannounced this week and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. It is what it is, and like with everything, our response to it is what determines our state of mind. Like the Grinch, covid may have put a halt to certain traditions, rearranged the day and caused gifts to arrive late, but we certainly didn’t allow it to take away the joy of Christmas.

Time to start the six loads of laundry,
SARAH