...vs. How it Went

Well, I didn't mean to leave you hanging in suspense of the rest of our Christmas, but it's been a busy few days of Lego assembly and 10-hour work days.  The latter was not exactly what I had in mind for this week, but you do what need to do.  

I left off my last post on Christmas Eve Eve, where I'd finally finished up all I could and put the gifts under the tree.  We had a couple decisions to make--what gift(s) to hold back for Christmas morning at my parents' and how to handle a not-so-secret but important gift.  I opted to keep a joint gift for my parents' and leave the important gift boxed but unwrapped in our room to bring down later, Red Ryder BB gun style.  As usual I had my couple minutes of peace while looking at the tree and the lights before heading to bed.  Some year I'm going to be amazing at this and put on some music or a Christmas movie and enjoy it for a while, but this was not the year.  I was beat!

The boys let us sleep in a bit, but eventually it was time to get up.  They were eager to open and we certainly had a busy day ahead.  As usual, it was time for the traditional top of the stairs picture...

...and then it was on to stockings.

Even Craig got in on the fun this year--he had one gift in his, a tin of candy that was in the form of a Dundie Award from The Office. 

Lots of candy as usual, plus a Treasure X mystery toy for Carter and a charging cable for Jacob.

The boys opened their gifts to one another--another Treasure X thing for Carter and "The Goat" pajama pants for Jacob.  Carter's first big gift was long-awaited.  Last year someone gifted him a Lego Super Mario set, not knowing that the set needed a starter set to work.  At one point I bought the starter set when I got a good price, and figured we'd either use it as a reward or wait until now...and we waited.  He kept asking for it, and finally got it!

As for Jacob, he was fortunate that some timing worked out as it did, because he got a couple big gifts.  The first one was his new phone.  It's reconditioned but was becoming necessary since his old one will be falling out of Apple support pretty soon.  He was very excited.

Carter got a marble run, a thing called Pixicade that helps you make your own video games, some Akedo figures (they're like tiny Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots with personalities and weapons), and a Homer Simpson Santa ornament.  Jacob also got a Grinch DVD (the live action one), the pants, a phone case, and his annual ornament, which was a Lego one you build and then stick in a clear ball.

Craig got a Braves World Series Champs sign, which I intended for his Braves bathroom in the basement, but it sounds like he'd rather have it in the family room downstairs.  Oh well.

As I mentioned, Jacob's other big gift wasn't under the tree.  We had a little issue with him wanting to get a new Xbox--basically some games aren't supported anymore by his old one, or something like that--and Craig ended up getting it.  He had hinted to Carter that when Jacob got a new one, Carter could use the old one, which Jacob had been rather protective of--which Carter took as it was happening for Christmas, and subsequently told Jacob he was getting one.  Sigh.  So, to create a little suspense and surprise, we held it back for a bit, and then finally Craig brought it down.  Craig was originally afraid Jacob would freak out if he was expecting it and didn't get it, but he was fine, even if he was likely internally confused for a few minutes.

I wish I could say that the rest of the time at home was smooth sailing, but I'm not sure it would be Christmas Eve if it was.  I did have a little time while breakfast was baking to enjoy helping Carter with his marble run, but then it was off to pack up gifts that were traveling, get dressed and ready, then finish packing and get some food ready.  I had to pressure cook a dozen eggs to make deviled eggs, then peel and slice them, mix up the filling, and pipe it in.  I had a makeshift travel setup for them, and as a whole it went fine, but it took longer than I'd hoped.  I also had to slice up some veggies for a green salad.  Craig was getting antsy to leave, I hadn't eaten lunch yet, and I was just running around like a maniac trying to get everything ready to go.  Eventually we hopped in the car a little later than we hoped, but still well within what seemed acceptable.  Normally I wait for that moment of getting in car and exhaling deeply, knowing that all my work was done, but oddly that didn't seem to happen as much this time.

About halfway through the trip, I got a funny feeling I had forgotten to turn off one set of lights.  We have these LED stars from IKEA that I've had for years hanging in our front window, and for some stupid reason I put them on in the morning, I guess to enhance the gift opening mood.  I could not remember if I had unplugged them, and it freaked me out because they were probably the least trustworthy of anything we could have left on.  Sometimes their adapter feels a little warmer than I'd expect, but we're always there when they're on so I've continued to use them.  I panicked a little and then decided I had no choice but to text my cousin Lori to see if she could drive by and see if they were on.  They happened to be on the road to go to her fiance's family's and rather quickly texted back--they were on.  Nooooo.  Now what?!

Mind you, the kicker was that under normal circumstances Lori could have just used her key to get into the house and unplug them, but did I mention that Jacob's school bag went MIA from the JV basketball game he was at on the last day of school before break?  More on that in a bit, but because his house key was in his bag and we didn't know if it was purposefully stolen, I worried that someone could have tracked down our address and just walked in the house, so I changed the locks the next day.  I hadn't had a chance to make extras of the new key, so having Lori do it was no longer an option.  Sigh...it was a perfect storm.  

We were so confused about the star lights because we all remembered looking at the house as we were leaving and no one noticed them being on.  Craig and Jacob specifically said how dark they recalled it looking, and I even had to run back into the garage to grab the EZ Pass, so how I missed it from the porch I'll never know.  We made the tough decision to turn back right then (well, at the next exit), and I was a serious ball of nerves about the fire hazard on top of being epically pissed at myself.  I just didn't trust them--the lights had already been on all day, and how horrible if this was the time they decided to break and burn the house down.  Plus it was setting us back so long--already an hour into the trip, then an hour back, and then 1:45 more for the full trip afterward.  It was an awful way to spend our afternoon and I was tortured by the whole thing, to the point of physically tensing up and fidgeting endlessly.  I felt completely horrible and was convinced I'd just ruined Christmas--if not for everyone else (particularly Craig's family waiting to eat) then at least for myself.  

But, you know...leave it to God to redeem the mess in the strangest of ways.  Just before we arrived at Craig's parents', we were listening to the Christian radio station on Sirius XM and they were doing all Christmas music.  There was a segment where artists were picking their favorite songs, and no joke, my very favorite Christmas song, Labor of Love from the Behold the Lamb of God album, was one of their picks.  I have never heard it on the radio, and here we were, five minutes from our destination after this horrible, epic saga of a trip, and my favorite song comes on out of the blue.  The song is so beautiful, and it makes me cry even on a good day.  Had I been alone and not needing to look human in five minutes, I probably would have bawled pretty badly, if I'm honest.  I had felt like I probably needed a good cry for a few reasons over the previous couple days--nothing specific, but maybe just the combo of general Christmas stress and all the COVID challenges for the second straight year.  I never got the chance to let it out, and after what we'd just been through, I needed it even more.  However, I had to hold it together in that moment, but there were definitely a few tears that had to escape, mostly because it was such an unexpectedly poetic, redeeming ending to that crazy trip.  Only God could have made that song happen at that exact time when we weren't even supposed to be in the van in the first place.  I felt much better after that. 

We had a very nice time with Craig's family.  It was good to see everyone (mostly) recovered from their post-Thanksgiving COVID.  There were moments I wondered if that family time would even happen, or include all of us, but thank God, it was fine, even if there are still a few lingering issues.  We ate well (Carter ate close to half of the deviled eggs on his own!), I had a nice big glass of wine, and we enjoyed opening gifts.  The boys did very well, as did we.  Jacob got a Raptors blanket and some clothes, and Carter got some Hot Wheels track, more Super Mario Legos, some pajamas, and more Akedo guys.  I got a new George Foreman Grill to replace the one I've had since my first Christmas living alone, and Craig mostly got a bunch of clothes!  We stuck around for as long as we could and finally headed off to my parents'.       

It was a late night, as we arrived just before midnight, but everyone went right to bed and got to sleep in a little since church wasn't until 10am.  As I've tried to do with the boys since we started staying at my parents' a few years ago, I bribe them to take a picture at the top of the stairs like my brother and I did before coming down to open a gift. 

This year it was a joint gift, the game Connect 4 Shots.  It's like Connect 4 using ping pong balls, and is reminiscent of the Connect 4 basketball game we always play at arcades.  One of these days we'll clear off a surface to try it out!  

We did church and a delicious ham dinner with my parents before opening presents there.  Jacob got a cool basketball lamp that my mom found, and Carter got the game Operation and another Super Mario set that ended up being a duplicate, but is in the process of being replaced.  We had also brought gifts from Uncle John since we ran out of time to open them at home.  Carter got a microscope, which will surely make for interesting exploring with his rock collection and other things around the house.  I was excited about my new Dustbuster--our old one was on its last legs--along with a couple Pampered Chef items from Jacob's school fundraiser and a new glass pumpkin from my favorite glass guy!  We usually catch him at the Hilton Apple Festival, but that's been canceled for two years and my mom found him at the Letchworth Craft Show when she went with her sister this fall.  It's blue, so it's going to live with my blue glass collection year-round!  

While we were relaxing and digesting, the phone rang, and it turned out my dad's family gathering, the one I agonized about, was canceled.  My cousin's husband's family had a positive (same group as what ended up leading to the cancellation of Thanksgiving), so once again the host household had been exposed through them.  On the bright side, at least three of the four in my cousin's family had COVID last time, so the risk of them catching and spreading it was small.  Still, they deemed it wise to cancel.  My mom and I did stop over there for a bit to drop off gifts for the babies and I was hoping to grab the family tree stuff from my uncle (he had mentioned it when I texted him our tentative RSVP), but that ended up not happening.  We did get about a half hour or so of family time with the limited crew that was there, which felt a little less risky, at least.   

We opted to stay over at my parents' one more night so we could hit up the outlets the next day.  You'd think we'd need nothing after a successful Christmas, but no...we had quite the shopping trip.  New sneakers for Carter (and for Jacob (ugh--at least they weren't super expensive)), soccer cleats for Carter, a new backpack to replace Jacob's missing one (which may now just be a travel bag, or his next backpack), and another pair of pants for Jacob who outgrows them so easily right now.  We grabbed some lunch and stopped at Walmart to pick up some gluten-free foods and try to exchange the duplicate Legos.  However, the shelves were quite bare so we'll be ordering online!  After that it was back on the road and home for the big unpacking.  We did pretty well, honestly, but still some work to do on the toys.  We'll worry about that when we're not encouraging to Carter play with them at all times during break.  

I was definitely not ready for Monday work, and even less ready when my boss accidentally miscalculated when she was doing data for a year-end email and I ended up doing it instead.  That left me with two busy work days that carried over into the evenings--both doing her work and the work I was originally planning on doing during my two planned days.  The good news is that made me switch my second work day and I now get a four-day weekend instead of three.  Now I just have to check email a couple times to make sure my next Monday isn't hellish.  But on my off-time in the meantime we've managed to build a lot of Legos, do the biggest marble run in the booklet, and christen the new Xbox.  Carter has played with his Pixicade and is getting the hang of how to create games--it's actually really cool and I hope he embraces it even more.

Craig got his COVID booster on Tuesday and is still struggling a bit today.  Carter got his second shot this morning and we're waiting on his side effects to start.  I hope he's not too miserable for New Year's.  But both are in the nick of time--there are COVID cases popping up everywhere.  Craig's team is taking a hit, and cases are hitting records everywhere.  It's sobering and sad that this doesn't appear to be ending any time soon, aside from the route of most people getting the new omicron variant and hopefully having minor symptoms, which would provide a large percent of the population some extra immunity so it either starts running out of useful hosts or softens the blow for subsequent infections down to a minor cold.  The problem is that record high numbers of infections means even a small percentage of severe cases could overload hospitals again.  The jury's still out on omicron's severity, death rate, and long COVID chances, but presumably it's going to be a long winter regardless and we're trying not to take chances.  It'll come eventually, I have no doubt, but we'll do what we can.  

Despite today revolving around COVID matters, it actually turned out to be a highlight of break simply because we finally solved the saga of Jacob's missing bag.  As of that Friday night, he thought he had left it in the bleachers to shoot hoops for a few minutes at halftime, and it disappeared with his school work, lunch bag, school computer, and house key inside.  Initially we were waiting for the school to review the security tape to see if they could see if it was stolen, but we didn't hear anything.  I emailed the school yesterday, mostly to make sure he had a computer to go back to next week, and it turns out that most of his recollections of the day were incorrect.  Despite insisting he had it when he got back to school, the security tapes showed him without it when he came in the door.  He swore he couldn't have left it at Chipotle because he had his money in it at Target after that, so we thought maybe he left it by the register at Target after pulling his money out.  But Target didn't have it.  But because he had no other explanation for where it would have gone between there and school, we randomly called Chipotle.  AND THEY HAD IT!  And it was fully intact--key, computer, and all.  Thank goodness they were honest and thank God they kept it around for two weeks!  Considering they found his library card to ID it and there's a school lanyard in the bag, I wish they would have called the school, but whatever.  All's well that ends well, but I hope he realizes how lucky he is and pays a little more attention next time.  We bought a new bag the day after Christmas, but it'll keep.  At least we don't have to rebuy the lunch bag, calculator, or numerous binders.  Now I just have to decide if I want to switch back to the old door lock or stick with the new one until one of the kids inevitably loses their key again and we switch back just to be safe.  Oy.

So...just a few days left before it's back to the grind.  I can't say it's been the relaxing pajama fest we always sort of think it should be, but it never is.  I always have all these good intentions to sleep in, watch movies, play with toys, and maybe do a little adventure or two, but only a fraction of it happens in between a couple work days and whatever appointments or other things we have going on.  And tomorrow Carter will be feeling crappy and suddenly it's New Year's Eve and we'll just have a normal weekend to recover in time for Monday.  And then I guess the countdown to February break begins?  Well, at least we managed to have mostly a Merry Christmas, even if it was still an abbreviated one, and we'll appreciate these last few days while we can.  And on we go to hope and pray this next year is somehow better than the last two...

How It Started...

I'll be honest...I started a post a couple days before Christmas and in true Christmas form, I never got back to it.  So...I'm going to work what I can of that into this.  

The week or so leading up to Christmas ended up a bit stressful due to both holiday and non-holiday issues.  They ranged from the usual lengthy holiday to-do list to COVID complications.  We still tried to make the best of it, though.  Despite being nearly done shopping (but not quite) for a while, as of last weekend I had done zero wrapping and had no idea what I was doing for food.  I was still working through those last few gift decisions, but Saturday ended up being a pretty busy day so I wasn't solving much of it then.  Oh, but before I get to that, I never got a chance to post the final product of my painted nativity from my weekend with Heather.  She had dropped it off to my parents the first weekend of December when we stuck close to home after our Thanksgiving COVID exposure, and I picked it up the following weekend when my mom and I went to the two Christmas markets in Buffalo (plus a really cool craft/antique co-op near their house).  I'm really happy with how it turned out--not bad for a first time, anyway.  

Last weekend we got a chance to go to two college basketball games in Buffalo.  The catch was that Craig was on the road in Albany, and then--of course--the weather got sketchy for the first time in ages!  But we went and had a wonderful time.  We made it for the second half of the Niagara University vs. UAlbany game, grabbed an arena snack in between, and then watched an intense UB vs. Canisius game.  Canisius led most of the game, lost the lead in the 4th, and then retook it with 10 seconds to go and barely held on for the upset win!  I think Jacob really enjoyed seeing that level of play, and we ended up having a really great day.

The week ended up being busy with work, Jacob's practices, and final prep.  Even still, Carter and I finally got around to doing the gingerbread house we bought a few weeks back.  It turned out pretty good.  I did most of the icing application and he provided some placement and additional art direction.  We supplemented with a few leftover Halloween candies and had fun with it.  It's been a nice little snacking source ever since.  Per Facebook, apparently we're in the minority who eat them!

The front

The back

The roof

Wednesday was my long-awaited last day of work, and it ended up being crazier than expected.  The previous night I went to Kohl's to pick up pants I ordered for Jacob and find some pajamas for our sister-in-law.  I found some pajamas but had my eye on another pair they didn't have in her size.  When I got home, I realized the pants for Jacob looked like the wrong ones (they were a light gray instead of a dark gray), so I decided to place an order for those at the only other store that had them, a half hour away.  In the process I found the other pajamas I wanted to get in stock, so I added those to the pick-up order.  Well, of course it started randomly snowing on Wednesday just before I was supposed to leave to get Jacob from practice and go the extra 10 minutes beyond to pick up my order.  This was nothing like the snow we'd had that barely stuck--it was hardcore lake effect.  It didn't really impact the drive out, but by the time we picked up Carter on the way back, my car had a hard time getting moving at a green light when going uphill!  We ended up with about four inches by the following morning, despite not having seen anything about snow in the forecast!  To make matters worse, the pants I picked up ended up being the same ones I had--apparently the website photo is just wrong--and the pajamas ended up having terrible reviews (the material pilled and possibly bled onto sheets) so I ended up keeping the first pair and returning the second ones.  And Jacob ended up liking the pants, and our sister-in-law liked the PJs, so all's well that ends well.  Oh, and did I mention I bought myself a soft fleecy pair in the process?  Merry Christmas to me!

I started my wrapping early in the week and did a marathon session one night, a shorter session the next night, and had a few things left for Thursday.  Since Thursday was my one day off before our Christmas really got started, I had basically saved way too much for that day--wrapping, cookie baking, grocery shopping, packing--plus unplanned shoveling--but managed to work through it pretty decently, even if all the last minute food shopping and prep did stress me out as usual.  I always have to do cinnamon rolls the night before our gift opening, and then inevitably spend most of the rest of gift opening morning making whatever I'm taking for Christmas potlucks.  It always makes us get on the road later than planned, but there just isn't much I can do far ahead ahead!  But at least I got some cookies done in the morning and had a plan for the rest of the food.  Having to make 6pm church (and try to do it in time to sit in the church itself, rather than the gym) left us a little rushed after practice, but we made it work.  Church was nice--it was lovely to be back in person and have the traditional candlelight Silent Night at the end.  I missed that last year, for sure.  I can't say it was particularly comfortable sitting among all those people, even masked, but it was nice.

In the midst of all the preparations, there were a couple things really nagging me throughout the week, and both had to do with COVID.  

Around midweek, it was announced as part of the state vaccine mandate means that the arena where the Amerks and Knighthawks play is now banning kids 5-11 who can't prove at least one shot of the vaccine.  As a side note, it's a good thing Carter is getting his second this week because our doctor keeps the card after the first shot, so we have no proof for him currently.  Regardless, people were up in arms, and it was frustrating to watch the negative comments pour in.  In this case, even I am frustrated.  First, I understand people's hesitance to get kids vaccinated.  It's new and they're not in as much danger.  I don't blame people for wanting to wait it out a bit.  I know plenty of adults who are vaccinated but are holding off on their kids.  Second, people really enjoy sports events and concerts as a family, and now that won't be possible for many.  Sports teams in particular, but really many events, are already struggling to get people to buy tickets, and now lots of families aren't even eligible to go because they're trying to be cautious with their kids.  It makes me worry for the Knighthawks' future, honestly, in part because it sounds like their refund policies aren't exactly accommodating, which is only going to anger people further.  Third, it's pretty well documented at this point that vaccinated people can catch and spread the virus, maybe as well as unvaccinated folks.  Delta started the trend and omicron has made it basically the norm, or so statistics seem to indicate.  Omicron has spread like crazy and areas with it are exploding in cases--though, less so as of now with hospitalizations or deaths.  Let's hope it stays that way.  But clearly the vaccine is doing more to protect individuals than the greater good it once contributed to.  I know in the grand scheme of things the more people that are vaccinated means fewer cases, fewer complications, maybe less transmission to some degree, and hopefully less of a chance for another variant, BUT...aside from some sue-happy weirdo who might sue a place for providing the setting in which to readily catch COVID, how an individual fares with their COVID infection isn't really a concern for places like arenas.  So if even vaccinated people are readily spreading it (as college campuses make clear), your event has super-spreader potential regardless.  Why keep pissing people off and making them more vaccine-resistant for a modest, maybe tiny, difference in safety?  I just don't get it, and if I don't get it despite my beliefs, there's zero hope for about 40% of the population.  It just added to this whole unsettled feeling right now, where so many people are angry and there's so little hope for anyone coming together for the common good.

My other major struggle was my extended family gathering.  Craig's had gotten canceled, which was sad but not unexpected.  It was in a small space with a lot of little kids, and it would definitely feel a little scary.  My family's scenario was much the same, but my uncle assured everyone it was still happening, and I was so incredibly torn.  On one hand, I understood my uncle's frustration with not being able to gather as a family, either last Christmas or this Thanksgiving.  On the other, it would be a complete tragedy if someone passed away because cases were spread at the party.  He encouraged and offered testing, which I appreciated, but it took some convincing for me to even impart to my parents that they should test before the festivities since they went to three (mostly unmasked) parties and a concert in the previous week or so.  I think people have gotten too trustworthy of the vaccine and that's going to lead to a major spike in cases over the next week or two, especially now that omicron is here locally.  Oddly, with hospitalizations being less likely with omicron, I almost found myself wishing that if COVID did find its way into the party, it would be omicron--maybe more cases, but all probably less severe.  Anyway, Craig did not want to go, and I agonized all week.  On one hand, it felt unsafe.  On the other, I knew I couldn't stop my parents from going, and they were my biggest worry.  Morbidly, I worried that if they did get it and something terrible happened, I'd regret that I wasn't there for that last family Christmas party.  It was a terrible thought, but that's how awful this whole thing is.  Even by the time I was doing my grocery shopping Thursday I was still so torn that I was trying to think of a last minute dish I could bring just in case I decided to go.  The decision really did put a damper on everything.

Thankfully, I was able to get my wrapping done on Thursday, along with much of the other straggler to-dos, and while Christmas Eve Eve (our Christmas Eve) still wasn't exactly stress-free, I was content enough with how everything had gone leading up.  I wish I could say the same for Christmas Eve, but that's a story for another post!

Those Other Christmas Memories (and Trying to Make More)

Part of the reason I love Christmas is because it brings up so many good memories from other times in my life.  Most of them are probably childhood memories because that's when Christmas was so full of rituals and traditions.  There were school events, crafts, caroling events, Advent calendars, tree decorating, cookies, family memories and so much more.  Almost everything we do now for Christmas triggers some sort of recollection.  Once I hit adulthood, things got a little fuzzy for a while.  I have strong memories tied to the feeling of college exam week and the immense relief of finishing that last exam and moving out, giving me just enough time to decompress before Christmas and kick off a solid six-week break. I have memories of snow storms (both White Christmases and while traveling) and those early years of adjusting to Craig's and my joint celebrations--giving up some traditions, starting new ones, and our frequent interesting sleeping arrangements on Christmas Eve.  In those early years we enjoyed acquiring new Peanuts-themed decorations and seeing both of our ornaments on our tree, particularly by the time it was all happening in our first house.  This time 14 years ago we were wrapping up at Disney from our last big trip before Jacob was born.  When Christmas arrived a week after we came home, we shared our pregnancy news with everyone, which made for an extra merry holiday.  After that it became all about "kid Christmas", and those memories have certainly evolved since then to take on their own new traditions.  

Yesterday I had a series of interesting memories pop up on Facebook, and they ranged from mildly traumatizing to bittersweet.  Nine years ago yesterday we were in Montreal for a Knighthawks weekend (the one that felt sort of odd under the shadow of the Sandy Hook shooting, which happened while we were traveling), and Jacob had the funniest quote about wanting to go to Africa because there was sun there, which he remarked as we struggled through freezing weather and nasty winds walking across a parking lot near the Canadiens' arena.  I loved that trip despite the underlying sadness, and it's extra nostalgic because I was pregnant at the time.  

There was another memory from six years ago, where Jacob got diagnosed with his bone cyst in his leg.  That made for an extra complicated Christmas, getting him around with a boot until his surgery in late January.  Luckily it wasn't nearly as serious as it could have been, but getting that news a week before Christmas was a lot to take.  

Three years ago yesterday was our last day at the waterpark hotel in Canada, courtesy of Craig's old boss.  That was such a fun weekend.  It was a full year before COVID hit, but it still feels like one of the last fun things we did as a family before the pandemic because our travels that following summer were a little underwhelming.  Carter still talks about it!  It was also the last straw before we decided Carter definitely needed to get his tonsil surgery, because his snoring made him a terrible roommate.  But there were so many memorable things that weekend, from the dinner at the Brazilian steakhouse where Jacob discovered grilled pineapple and Carter discovered bacon-wrapped chicken, to the waterpark itself, to my quiet morning walk to get breakfast that led me down to the brink of the Falls to take some lovely pictures that still make me feel all peaceful.  

A year ago today Jacob officially started showing symptoms of COVID.  He had basketball practice the previous night and said later that he felt tired when he was running, but the following day he texted me from school about being stuffed up, and by that night he was feeling pretty cruddy with a 99 fever.  The next day he felt better, but with Christmas looming, of course we got him tested.  We didn't think much of it considering how much better he felt, so we were pretty shocked on Sunday when he came back with a positive.  You can read my post from the beginning here (ironically a memories-based post much like this one) and the pre-Christmas panic once we knew we were stuck at home here.  

I can't say I'm feeling super comfortable with Christmas at this point, knowing how quickly our plans had to change last year.  Just last night I tested Jacob (ironically) because he mentioned he'd been a little extra stuffy all week.  Negative, thankfully.  But it's just that simple, and I don't take that for granted.  Last year was a shock, but this year it's even easier to spread so it would barely surprise me.  We take lots of precautions but there are just enough risky things (Jacob's basketball, Craig's travel, Carter's school, my work and all the random running around I do) that it'll probably come for us eventually.

I just looked back at a post from a few days prior to Jacob's illness, entitled News and Notes, Christmas Spiritless Edition, because I remembered feeling very unspirited last year as we faced down an already-stripped down Christmas--and that was before Jacob's positive.  I just felt numb, and the fears I expressed in the post definitely foreshadowed what ended up happening--someone did get sick and we spent our first Christmas at home.  It was interesting looking at the COVID figures I put in that post.  Local cases are only slightly lower than they were then.  National cases are about half to 3/4 of what they were then, and deaths are about half.  Still, it's sobering considering a significant portion of the country is vaccinated and/or had COVID.  We're just not that much better off, which I'm sure is due to things I've mentioned previously--delta (and now omicron) spreading cases more efficiently, waning vaccination effectiveness for those without boosters, and the stubborn group of the unvaccinated getting sick at higher rates...not to mention people are now probably ripe to catch it again.  And yet, despite all that, I'd say I have more Christmas spirit this year, though I think after two years I'm also starting to forget some of the things we're missing out on.  It only occurred to me a couple weeks ago that we've gone two years without the Sunday School Christmas program, and Carter's just to the age where he could be having a bigger part.  Maybe next year?  We did get to enjoy Jacob's winter concert for his chorus class the other night.  That was a nice change of pace.  Then I dragged everyone to a neighborhood near the school afterward to look at a well decorated cul-de-sac, which I probably appreciated more than anyone.  

1963 called and wants its auditorium back--thank goodness this is next on the renovation list.

Jacob's in the middle with the black mask.

Even though my spirits are reasonably decent, I'm probably still lagging on a few things.  I've had a very busy period at work--down five team members and now taking over a bunch from one of them--so a lot of energy I'd probably be putting toward the holiday has been sucked up by being tired after a long, stressful day of work.  I did finally get a promotion and raise, though, so Merry Christmas to me.  I just wish it would have been based on past work and not the fact I'm now taking on a ton of extra work and they need to keep me happy.  

Despite not having to buy a bunch of gifts for extended family gatherings again (mine hasn't officially been canceled that I know of, but apparently we're not doing gifts regardless), we're still a couple short.  I finished up some stocking stuffers the other night, a few more gifts that need to ship last night, and some small things today, but still have some odds and ends to wrap up.  I still need to get my cookie plans figured out and I have no idea what food I'm taking for whatever gatherings we're actually doing.  I'm probably most panicked about wrapping since this weekend is it for significant blocks of wrapping time and we appear to have a busy Saturday coming up.  Of course, most of what I have to wrap is for the kids, so that's even more challenging when they're home and awake (and Jacob never goes to bed early anymore).  I have no idea when that's all getting done.  I might have to move my wrapping station to the basement and lock myself there for a while.  

So while I wouldn't say I'm spiritless this year like I did last year, I'm still feeling a little restrained--a bit cautious and quietly bracing myself to have a repeat of last year.  It wasn't terrible, of course.  We did what we could to make it special, and it was a lot easier to take since it was supposed to be a one-time thing.  I can't say I'll have the energy and enthusiasm to pull out another big save this year, if needed, although the past couple days have included some last-minute purchases and other browsing that I think were brought on by me wanting some "insurance" that if something does happen, we're well-equipped to make it merry.  Last year it was just reacting to a crappy situation and throwing everything we had at it.  This year it would just feel like a terrible letdown, and I feel like we'd be endlessly comparing to last year and trying to recreate the magic that made it as decent as it was.  But let's face it, that's not what we're all looking for this year. We just want a normal Christmas with normal family stuff that doesn't include the fear of infecting older relatives or the unvaccinated babies, but it looks like that will have to wait at least another year.  I sure hope I'm not writing this same post again then.  

This has been a long road that's getting a bit longer--not because politicians say it has to, mind you, but because we're choosing to protect ourselves and others as much as our mental state will allow.  Now is not the time to let up, even for the holidays.  I want to make more memories with family but not at the expense of future ones.  It's such a delicate balance right now.  Omicron could be a game changer--we're so close, and yet maybe just a little too far to reach Christmas without everything going down the tubes--again.  We'll make the best of it--again--but I'm nervous nonetheless.

COVID Vent

Can I just vent here for a second?  Sometimes it's better for me to vent here than to get tempted to do it on social media where people can see it and argue.  I really just sort of need to talk myself through something because it's bugging me.  Also, in the interest of further documenting how crazy and bizarre this entire experience is, much like I did early on in the pandemic, I want to leave this here as a reminder years down the road what absurdities we dealt with.

Rant: I am SO. FREAKING. TIRED. of people who are resistant to masks.  Resistant to any COVID precautions really, but masks especially.  Masks are so easy, generally non-invasive, and are really the best ammunition we have to keep a nasty evolving virus at bay when a portion of the population has no interest in more invasive measures.  

Yes, a year ago the vaccine seemed like our savior, and as vaccination numbers climbed, cases declined.  They even continued to decline once most restrictions were lifted and we were free to gather and unmask.  It probably helped that better weather had arrived, mind you, but for a solid couple months, cases were so low that even schools were finally able to be fully reopened at full capacity for the first time in over a year.  But even then, the most successful school reopenings involved masking.  The vaccine was working for eligible groups and masks didn't seem as important as long as you had your vaccine, as vaccinated people had a significantly smaller risk of both catching it and transmitting it, especially when asymptomatic.

But then delta hit and everything changed.  With delta, transmission was easier.  The vaccine only fought off so much, and it became easier for vaccinated people to catch and transmit.  Still, the vaccine was useful in keeping the risk down for severe illness, which not only helps the person who has it, but also the hospitals that are struggling with capacity issues.  Now, the new omicron variant makes these problems even bigger, as it can evade the vaccine even better and is even more transmissible, even if its cases aren't as severe.  Which brings me back to the masks.

If the vaccine isn't doing what it was expected to do--or at least what it once did--if we do nothing, we risk exponential spread again.  Many areas are quite close to that, probably with only the vaccine's modest effectiveness keeping things from exploding further.  I understand they can't stop pushing vaccines, because they do keep people out of the hospitals and save (most) lives, but if they're not getting the job done, we need another option.  It's either masks or (God forbid) another shutdown, and I for one am happy to wear a mask to avoid a shutdown.  I want my kids in school, I want stores and services open, I want fun things to do in our spare time, and I will gladly use a mask if it helps keep those things available.  Maybe the bulk of the spread isn't happening in a lot of those places, but it sure can't hurt to have one less venue for it to move from group to group.  If people want to gather and risk illness, that's their choice--we all have our mental health needs and I'm not necessarily going to judge people for that because we've done it, too.  However, I'd prefer that their risky decision not get passed to me as I stand next to them trying to buy food for my family or watch my child play basketball, just because they don't yet know they're sick and choose not to take further precautions.  My mask might give me some protection from them, but it works best when they have theirs on too.

As of Monday there is now a mask mandate in New York State.  All indoor venues, excluding those that only allow vaccinated individuals, need to have masking.  That means stores, churches, schools, gyms, and almost everything except your own home have some sort of requirement.  I honestly have no issue with it, and I actually wish they didn't even have the vaccination exemption, because it's clear vaccinated people can catch and spread it more readily now.  Even though asymptomatic spread may be less common, it's clearly an issue--which we learned all too well from our Thanksgiving dinner.  And some people just think they have a cold or allergies and--even worse--want to pretend this isn't a thing, so they go about their lives without a test or any precautions.

So many people are at different stages of vaccination anyway, from fully vaccinated and boosted, to two shots, to one J&J, to kids who only have one shot or aren't booster-eligible yet.  As a result, the "fully vaccinated" definition is a bit fuzzy now since so many people's initial resistance is fading, and if they haven't boosted they're probably at a similar risk level as they were prior to getting the shot.  And then there's the people who can't get the vaccine, and a whole slew that won't get the vaccine and refuse to mask up even when requested.  So, to me, the only way to have any level of consistent protection is to have everyone mask up and at least TRY to block aerosols from making it out in the world.  No, masks aren't completely effective, but they have to block something, and every bit that they block is that much less that can cause problems for someone else.  And for little kids and especially the immune-compromised, every bit helps.  

But there are many people, and entire counties now, who will not abide by the state mandate.  People are obviously just over it and trumpeting their "freedoms", and counties insist they don't have the manpower to enforce it.  The problem in my mind is that--whether they admit it or not--many people subconsciously take their lead from how the government regulates things.  Obviously there will always be the rebels, and lately it's in fashion for there to be groups that fight literally everything a governing body puts out there, but historically people didn't get serious about seatbelts or eliminating indoor smoking until the government started making rules to encourage people's safety.  In a natural disaster, people wait for leaders to speak and explain next steps for recovery and supplies, and in other crises, the government sets the tone for how we as a country move forward.  For generations, when the government bothered to elevate something, people have been more likely to take notice and take action.  But the second the governing bodies stop backing something, I think for a lot of people it signals that it's just not that important.  We saw what happened when even one side of the political aisle simply downplayed COVID, and we're still dealing with those repercussions.  I understand that most cases are happening in homes at private gatherings, and that's a problem.  Short of going house to house to enforce it, which is clearly overreach, the government has to manage what they can access, and right now that's public places.  If people don't regulate themselves at home, it forces their hand publicly.  If they don't act, hospitals will definitely be overrun and wonder why they're not getting support from any part of the community, because if the government won't take the lead, who will?

These stupid variants are changing things by the day, and yet people refuse to operate in the present.  When it was just the original strain, the vaccine was enough most of the time.  That was not some grand lie.  Statistics back it up.  Now it's not enough.  And that's not because the vaccine is faulty--it did work--it's because ongoing infections (which at the time were almost entirely courtesy of the unvaccinated) allowed the virus to mutate to something almost unrecognizable to the vaccine.  Now COVID's vaccine response more like the flu, in the way that the vaccine isn't going to block all cases.  It's not like measles or polio that are nearly a sure defense and allowed for herd immunity.  This is like the flu vaccine that blocks certain strains for most people and gives you a better chance of mild symptoms if a different strain pokes through.  Obviously there was hope initially that the COVID vaccine would block everything, but the variants changed that.  And that's why there may be a series of boosters (which opponents delightedly joke will be never-ending), because not only is this still rapidly evolving, but it doesn't really take a seasonal break like the flu does, so annual boosters like we do now for the flu may not cut it.  If the flu spread like crazy year-round and created new strains all along, we'd probably need a booster six months later for that, too.  Luckily for us, it takes a break in the summer so we don't.  COVID is different.

I'll admit I'm frustrated by the current vaccine mandates in light of the vaccine's clear deficiencies right now.  We just sent away a ton of much-needed medical workers because of it, and I think the way the mandates are being handed down just creates more stubbornness than anything else.  In theory I do believe people should be able to make health decisions for themselves, in a way that doesn't threaten their job or ability to attend school, but maybe the line gets drawn when their decision can impact other people, because every prevention method works best when both parties take part.  Under normal circumstances, with time-tested vaccines, I do get frustrated with those who avoid them.  I understand currently why people are hesitant, as this is a new one without years of success behind it.  However, there is overwhelming evidence that they work with only tiny risks of side effects, so I'm most frustrated with all of the misinformation out there and wish that was never able to happen so more people were willing to do it on their own.  But the mandates now just create more resistance and anger, and have made already short-staffed medical facilities even more short-staffed, putting more pressure on already-exhausted workers.  I understand how those in power need to maintain certain narratives to insist the vaccine is important, because it is the only thing keeping most hospitals from being overrun right now, and I know they hope these mandates will convince people to do it.  However, I honestly think the only thing that will convince them at this stage, a year into vaccination, is people seeing their loved ones sick and dying, and deciding they will take every possible step to not have the same thing happen to them.  Even that's not enough for some people, as they insist they are healthy and they'd prefer their immune system get natural immunity.  That's all well and good...until it's not.  So many people have found out the hard way that their body wasn't as prepared as they thought it was.

I think one of the hardest things about this pandemic has been what seems like a constant barrage of potential life and death decisions.  Do you get the vaccine?  Should your children get the vaccine?  Do you take that trip?  Do you send your child to school or go to work in an office?  Do you skip the mask while gathering with friends and family?  Do you get that medical procedure or have that baby while COVID is actively spreading?  There are so many concerns with being out in the world, and yet so many mental health repercussions to limiting yourself, which is why so much of it comes back to the stupid mask.  Wear the mask and 95% of activities are considerably safer, barring those involving eating.  So if we don't want a shutdown and we want the rest of our freedoms intact, just put on the stupid mask and help others who might need that extra layer of protection.  Why any person thinks a politician would choose a mask mandate as the ideal way to "control" their constituents, I just don't know.  People wearing a mask only helps to protect others and keep numbers in check; there's no logical reason why seeing masked constituents should give them some sort of smug satisfaction or feeling of power.  It's just not logical that it's merely about control.  It's simply demonstrating that it should be a priority and maybe make people think twice when they gather privately about whether masking should be considered.  If politicians hold a responsibility to keep numbers in check, it's the easiest way to do so.  What is the alternative?  Let everyone just run amok openly spreading it?  At this stage every bit helps, even if public masking is only a small piece. 

I'm just so confused how people still deny COVID's a thing (I saw at least a couple comments yesterday of people calling an outbreak at Cornell a bunch of "false positives") and seem completely fine with taking the risk that they'll get it.  Yes, at best they'll have few to zero symptoms.  But what if they pass it to someone else who doesn't?  Do they like the idea of feeling like garbage for a week or two and needing to isolate from loved ones, especially around the holidays?  Or at worst, are they okay with dying and leaving loved ones behind?  Maybe to them it seems like a lot of effort for small risk, but this has caught more than a few people by surprise.  Wearing a mask seems like such a small task, a little bit of goodwill to protect others (and maybe yourself).  I know they can be uncomfortable and some people now see them as a symbol of tyranny, but medical professionals have worn them for decades and I doubt they'd want their next major surgery done without one.  So why is it so darn difficult to just deal?  

I understand that this seems like it will never end.  I know that this all started with two weeks to flatten the curve and has turned into two years of upheaval, but we had little idea at the time (thanks to China keeping things quiet) that this could be as deadly as it is for people of all ages, that it could cause long-term medical issues for those who survive it, and that it would end up to be so far-reaching.  The whole world is struggling with this, it's not just some American construct to keep us under someone's thumb.  Many things have been mishandled, but everyone is sort of learning as we go and some decisions have been more logical and long-lasting than others.  People play into the slippery slope fallacy that just because one thing happens to help control the spread, a bunch of others will happen and we'll be prisoners in our own homes forever, and as a result they're resisting the exact, rather minimally hard things that could make this end, or at least make it a little more livable.  It's so stinking frustrating, and even sadder as we hear the stories and even as I watch via Facebook someone that I once knew on the verge of death from something that's supposed to be "no big deal".  I'm disheartened and worried about Christmas once again, and yet half the world just doesn't have an interest in helping this go away because their own freedom is more important.  Sigh.  So much for peace and goodwill toward men.

Ups and Downs

We're more than a third of the way to Christmas and things are continuing to be a little on the challenging side.  More positives in Craig's family, and they've felt like garbage, but nothing serious at this point.  We all seem to be fine, thankfully, as the two week window ended today.  But cases continue to rise all over and I feel like any extended Christmas gatherings are looking very unlikely.  I just can't believe we're facing down another year of this.  The key now is keeping ourselves healthy so we can at least have immediate family gatherings, even if the extended family ones don't work out.  Carter got his first shot today, so at least he'll have some protection by then.

On the basketball front, Jacob got some bad news this week that all of the 8th graders got moved down to the modified team from the JV team.  They had a rough scrimmage on Sunday against a really good team, which wasn't unexpected but still prompted his coach to say there were going to be cuts coming.  Tuesday was the JV opener, and sure enough, on Monday they were all sent down.  Never mind that Jacob is definitely more skilled than some of the older kids that remain on the team.  I guess this coach has a thing about kids "doing their time" and not wanting them to take the place of older kids, but that's rather short-sighted when your team is already pretty terrible.  Why give up talent if they could help your team, or even just provide motivation for the starters to get better lest they lose their spot to an up-and-comer?  We heard today that it also had something to do with the arrival of a couple international students, but there are some possibilities when they leave at the end of January.  It all just seems odd to us, and obviously disappointing.  The good news is that the varsity coach is still very high on Jacob so we're hoping his influence will help down the road.  In the meantime, hopefully the modified team will stack up better against other teams and Jacob should have an opportunity to shine.  There's still some concern about what position they'll have him playing, since he's currently one of the taller kids but does not play "big" roles since he won't be the tallest for long.  It's not that he can't try, but it won't help his development the way it should.  Beyond that, these changes create all sorts of upheaval again that could eventually lead to a school change and/or Jacob reclassifying, which would mean he'd repeat 8th grade.  Not because of academics, of course--he made high honor roll this quarter--but rather to give him more time to develop as a player.  It's pretty common in basketball, but I can't say I'm a fan of the practice.  I just don't know if his skills are so full of potential that this level of disruption in his schooling would be warranted.  He may be able to make a D-II or D-III team, and maybe it could help in the scholarship department (which is important if we're paying an extra year of private school tuition), but it all feels extreme when the potential his trainer and a few others see hasn't really borne out on the court with any regularity.  That's not all his fault, mind you--iffy coaching, COVID, the "big" position issue, and a host of other factors have all contributed.  We know he has talent, and when he's on he's amazing.  But the inconsistency makes it hard to judge what's real and what's possible, so that's a really big decision.  And we only have a couple more months to make it before the school starts bugging us to sign a contract for next year.  Ugh.

On the bright side, I finally finished the rest of my Christmas decorating last week, namely the window clings I always seem to put off and FINALLY, at long last, outdoor lights!  We've never managed any sort of outdoor lights at either house we've owned.  At our first house, I just never got around to figuring it out.  We had an outlet but I guess I wasn't that aware of outdoor timers, and the bushes closest to the outlet were prickly holly bushes, so it would have involved hanging from the gutters, which never really interested us or motivated us to figure it out.  I always wanted to do more here, especially as the kids would ask once in a while, but our front porch outlet is in the worst possible spot.  It's smack in the middle of the porch, and any cord would either turn into a trip wire across the porch or have to be elaborately threaded up and around the big front window, across the porch ceiling, and out to the front of the house.  Last year I saw some siding clips on Amazon, and that got me thinking.  Maybe I could buy one of those pre-lit shapes, like a Santa or a tree or something, and hang it on the siding at the top of the porch steps.  Since it would be flat, it would stay out of the way of the door to the garage, and the cord could run along the wall.  But this year when I finally got to Lowe's and looked, anything like that was prohibitively expensive.  So, I bought four strands of lights at Target and took a page from my parents' book.  My parents used to string lights from their plant hooks down to a long piece of wood on the ground, creating a tree.  I found some scrap wood in our garage, put up a siding hook, and gave it a try when the weather was oddly warm and windy last week.  My first attempt was decent but I felt like it needed more help--a wider base and better spacing.  I grabbed a slightly longer piece of wood, screwed six metal hooks into it, and restrung everything.  I think it definitely made a difference, and I sort of love it!

Before

After!

My only issue is whether I might need to cover the outlet if we get a round of blowing snow.  The outlet doesn't (and can't) have a cover, so I might need to rig up a bag and electrical tape, just in case.  But so far, it's been good.  

I mentioned in my last post my quest for the last glass tree at Target.  Here is my final mantle setup.

From L to R: A dollar store hanging tree candleholder I've had for years, the replacement $3 Target tree (with a tealight under), my beloved bubbly red glass ball from IKEA, $5 light-up mercury glass tree from Target, nativity decorative plate we received as a wedding gift, $5 clear stained glass style tree from Target, red sparkly candle we've had for years, IKEA lantern, $1 Target green glass tree.  Background is sparkly pine garland with red LEDs, hanging lights are gold stars, and the stocking holders are nativity-themed.  Nice blend of old and new!

And of course, the trees...including my theme tree this year, which is sports!

So excited I figured out how to stabilize the big star this year--the top branch did not like its weight!  An old fake flower stem did the trick.  I think the extra tall star makes it feel all of its 7.5+ feet!

The boys and I were happy to get home from Jacob's Sunday scrimmage and have Craig home from his first road trip of the year.  It's definitely going to take some getting used to having him gone again.  Monday was Craig's birthday.  Work day birthdays are always a bit of a bummer, but we did our best. We were excited to give him his gift, an Office Funko Advent Calendar, which contains 24 little Office characters.  We're so curious which ones are in there, since all of the online photos only showed the first handful.  It was fun getting to open six at once!  He decided he wanted Outback for dinner, but for various reasons we got a later start (not the least of which was the grumping around after Jacob's basketball demotion and my need to run to Wegmans after forgetting frosting the previous day and subsequently running out of about 10 other items in the process of dinner and making his cookie cake), and by the time I came back with the food, Craig was in the middle of a work conference call.  So we tried to delay eating as long as possible, until he felt comfortable bringing the computer into the kitchen to finish up the call.  It still wasn't the most stimulating conversation between him being on the call and Jacob still complaining, but the food was good, at least.  Then we had cookie cake, by Craig's request.  It was definitely a bit low key, but hopefully we can improve it by next year for the big 5-0!

And before I forget, here's a pic I never got to post from Thanksgiving.  All my boys!

So, we're down to two weeks left until Christmas, and there's still a lot to do!  It's amazing how fast the weeks go right now, between hybrid work, Jacob's practices, trying to get dinner on the table each night, and getting through the rest of the appointments we have each week.  Jacob only has one more full week of school, and I know these weeks will continue to fly by far too fast--Christmas always comes quickly enough anyway.  We probably have a bunch of traditions we still need to do, still many gifts to be bought, movies to watch and lights to see.  And in a year where things may be a little funky again, the pressure is on to do all the things so it still feels like a real Christmas.  It's not easy, but like every other year, we'll get there one way or another...way too quickly.

Stumbling into the Season

Well, Thanksgiving was pretty great.  Everything after that has been a bit dicey.  Maybe I'm being overdramatic, but let's just say that all of the good vibes from a lovely Thanksgiving have pretty much disappeared in the week since.

Thanksgiving itself was lovely.  We grabbed take out for dinner on Wednesday, packed up, and headed out in the evening, which gave us some time with my parents before everyone headed to bed.  We did church in the morning, which turned out to be less awkward than expected due to the mask mandate recently brought back in Erie County.  Instead of being the only masked people like we usually are, everyone had to wear them.  But with spiking cases and no distancing, it was definitely much preferred for us.  The bad news about the mandate is that it made my dad's Vespers concert that I was hoping to attend this coming weekend remote only, as the county said that in order to have unmasked singers they would need to be 12 feet apart, which means they need to take over the entire church just for the singers!  

We had a lovely lunchtime meal with my parents.  My apple pie turned out the best ever, and everything was delicious.  Carter ate about six crescent rolls with his turkey and stuffing, but who's counting?  We FaceTimed with my brother, niece, and nephew, and after some further digestion, we headed off to Craig's family.  

That dinner is always quite a big to-do.  From fancy charcuterie and shrimp cocktail while the many, many dishes are being prepared, to a giant spread for the meal, it is impressive, but probably much needed with 16 people being served!  Two turkeys, two different stuffings, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, roasted veggies, green bean casserole, regular and gluten-free biscuits, cranberries, and...I'm probably forgetting something.  Oh, and like five pies for dessert.  It's all delicious and tremendously filling, no matter how careful you try to be.  We did determine I will be switching out green bean casserole for mac and cheese (and maybe deviled eggs!) next year.  The Instant Pot should make that pretty simple, and keep one more thing out of the oven (aside from maybe browning some breadcrumbs at the end?).  I've done mac and cheese for lunch in no time, so I'm game!  We enjoyed most of the Bills' win before heading home, and arrived around 11pm.  And yes, that drive was challenging...partly because I was still so full!

I woke up Friday sneezing and sniffling like crazy.  Despite my cold having been mostly fine for days, I was suddenly a mess.  It was reminiscent of Jacob's one-day sneeze fest the previous Sunday, and sure enough, I felt significantly better on Saturday.  Ever since, I've been been mostly fine with only a few daily instances of sinus pressure that make me sneeze and have to blow my nose about twice in a row, and then it passes.  It's so weird.  It could be a blooming sinus infection, but it seems to be getting better, so we'll see.  Nevertheless, my big day of decorating on Friday was not as successful as I'd hoped, between my nose dripping every time I bent down and feeling a little wiped out from the constant nose blowing.  Add in the rest of the usual complications--putting away the fall stuff, moving the toys so we can move the furniture, lugging up two trees, putting up the old tree branch by branch, vacuuming needles, placing all of the other decorations, and finally hanging the ornaments--and it took me literally until about 10pm Sunday night to get everything done.  I also took breaks for a few other things, like basketball practice chauffeuring, cooking meals, and running errands, which were shockingly productive.  I still have window clings to put up, and my big attempt at outdoor decorating didn't happen because it's been extra freezing out, but we'll get there.  I also went to three Targets in two days trying to replace a glass tree I bought that ended up being broken when I got it home.  I had agonized over Target's adorable offerings in the cheap section for a few days, and finally decided on one green mercury glass light-up tree, one clear stained glass-style tree (each $5), and two $1 glass trees, one green and one white.  They were whimsically mismatched and were destined for my mantel.  I tried a couple Targets over the weekend to replace the broken one with no luck, and finally settled on a slightly bigger $3 one Monday morning after dropping Jacob off.  Good enough.  That stop did enable me to get the outdoor timer the other two stores were out of, although I think my delivery would have been here by now anyway.  I think the house and trees look great, truly, but it sure felt like a mess getting there.   The good news is that I get to enjoy it a lot more again this year working from home.

I will say that buying for the kids is going really well--in fact, other than some stocking stuffers and maybe a couple filler gifts, they're nearly done.  I've had some really efficient shopping trips and some good luck, plus one big Amazon order.  We still need to distribute the rest of the kids' lists out to family, but it's a great start compared to most years--December has just begun!  Craig is doing a great job on his family, though I still need to figure out most of mine.  Who knows what extended family exchanges might be this year--even if we have gatherings, is it worth buying ahead with the risk of a last minute cancellation as cases continue to rise?  I figure if I can get the rest done ahead of time, then it will be less of a big deal if I do end up buying for extended family last minute.  

Speaking of COVID cancellations, cases are going up pretty horribly now, to the point we're almost no better off than last year aside from having our own personal protection against severe disease.  I think delta has basically evened out the impact of the vaccines--when people are getting infected, it's in greater numbers than before.  Where there was one or two, now it's five.  Vaccines aren't perfect, either, and I assume a lot of people who put off their boosters now have less protection than they think.  I'm guessing that's why hospital numbers are as bad as they are--that the most vulnerable got vulnerable once again.  But who knows.  And now there's a whole new strain, omicron, that is slowly infiltrating countries despite best efforts to contain it to southern Africa where it started.  It's sobering to think that if it moves as fast as it seems to be, Christmas could be as in jeopardy as it was last year.

And if that wasn't feeling real enough, we got a couple solid reminders recently how quickly plans can change.  First, with my extended family's Thanksgiving cancellation, which I mentioned in my last post, and then Sunday when we got the news that someone who attended our Thanksgiving dinner with Craig's family tested positive.  We didn't have a lot of interaction, but we did sit at the same end of the table, so now we're playing the waiting game.  One other person already tested positive (and it's someone with a suppressed immune system, so we're nervous).  Carter and I both took tests Sunday night at home and both were negative.  Craig had to take a test for work Sunday anyway, which was also negative.  Given that Jacob has had COVID and is fairly recently vaccinated, we're less worried about him, but obviously we'll be keeping a close eye on all of us anyway.  We have a bunch of home tests coming thanks to a sale at Walmart so we'll test both kids tonight, and I'm getting a test through work Thursday (by request of a nurse who reviewed my daily chick-in, which I was honest on), so we're being diligent.  Even though Carter is unvaccinated, we haven't reported anything to school because he had so little interaction with the person who had it, and we're tracking him closely and testing periodically.  I don't want him out of school for two weeks for very low odds, so we're going this route while we can.  Next week the county starts its test-to-stay policy, so if something like this crops up again, it shouldn't be an issue.  It's just that easy, though, that the simplest, most innocent family gathering of immunized individuals can go downhill quickly.

Things took another turn for the frustrating when I found out on Monday that another co-worker is leaving (that's five since August), and as none have been replaced for a multitude of reasons, it's going to be a very frustrating six months or so.  Two of those leaving have been the point people for our two biggest online fundraising events, and our academic team is basically down to my boss and me, with a side assist from the reunion/young alumni/affinity director, who is already shorthanded on her own, and our digital person, who will be taking on considerably more for those events.  I have no idea how things are going to get done.  It was hard enough fully staffed, but now, with so few people and almost two years into a stressful pandemic that has me randomly distracted and exhausted on its own, I'm worried.  The one bright side is that it should give me a VERY good case for the long-awaited, technically much deserved promotion I've been angling to get for the last few years.  If doing most of someone else's job on top of my own doesn't do it, then I will have some serious thinking to do.  Yet, I appreciate the massive flexibility I have right now and that would be tough to risk giving up, but hopefully it won't come to that and my performance will speak for itself.

And then yesterday there was another school shooting, this time at a high school in Michigan.  Four kids that should have been celebrating with their families in a few weeks are now gone.  It's too reminiscent of Sandy Hook for me, as it occurred to me the other day that it's been nine years next week since that one.  Those kids would have been the same age or within a year or two of these latest victims.  This stuff continues to happen every few months on average despite the horror of that one particular shooting.  It's crushing as a parent, and even harder when the kids it's happening to are close in age to yours.  While it seems like it could never happen here, that's what all those other schools thought, too.  I'm just at a loss.

With everything that's going on right now--rising COVID cases, being exposed ourselves, Jacob's crazy basketball schedule (frequency of practices and constant schedule changes), trying to get everyone immunized for COVID and the flu, taking care of other appointments, Craig's busy work schedule and travel, and now my work drama, plus this crazy messed up world in general--I feel very scattered and worry that my Christmas spirit is going to get crushed under all the things.  I will say I found myself very appreciative of the five days after Thanksgiving where I could be productive before the calendar flipped to December and the "official" countdown started.  It was helpful mentally, but I have already been watching the countdown posted on a house around the corner, and we are now down below 25 days--which means less than four weeks!  I know it always goes so fast, too.

I was supposed to be in Buffalo this weekend for Buffalo's Christmas markets and the Vespers concert (which I can still hear online), but given our exposure, it's looking wise to stay home.  I guess maybe I can get some things done?  But Craig will be out of town, so that might be a challenge.  I guess I should appreciate any sort of slow pace I can get right now, but it's a bummer to miss out on any holiday fun or family time...and I can't wait to get my finished nativity!  Maybe next weekend, assuming our tests remain clear and no symptoms show up.  I had really hoped there wouldn't be all these caveats again this year, but here we are, COVID Christmas #2.  Time to try to make it merry!