Tonight we'll have all nine of us under one roof again for the first time in a while - July? Holiday jollity will ensue, to an extent. Our plans for Christmas are subdued, like everyone else's. We'll go to Mass outside on Christmas Eve in the early evening - no midnight Mass. We'll open lots of presents on Christmas morning, we'll watch some Christmas movies and eat lots of Christmas treats, and then we'll have a big feast on roast beast before sharing desserts with our friends whom we've seen regularly throughout - our quaranteam friends, or whatever cute name you want to call the people you feel safe gathering with. I've resisted offering invitations to anyone (although I've been tempted and have considered ways to gather safely in the back yard with small groups - book club was gathering until this month because CA went back in the purple tier, and it's getting too dark and chilly to sit outside). We obviously haven't had any work Christmas parties, or school Christmas concerts, or Church Christmas events. I actually have the shopping done early. And Christmas cards are ready to go except for a few I mean to put notes in.
To capture a bit of the Christmas spirit we have walked around the neighborhood in the early evenings to view the lights. We looked at the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn - but you can see better photos elsewhere. We've made and eaten lots of cookies and delivered some to friends in the neighborhood. We've decorated our house and lit the Advent wreath, eaten the chocolates in the calendar, set out some of the Jesse tree pieces -more than usual, and had some feasts in honor of saints - but mainly because the kids wanted to try out new recipes and have an excuse to go to the Asian grocery and the Mexican mercado and the Italian market. Having bored young adults around has kept us well fed.
I hesitate to admit, but record here in the interest of our family record, that we did do something risky and probably unwise, but escaped unscathed. We took a trip to see my in-laws, whom we hadn't seen in 18 months. I had purchased the tickets at the end of October when cases were down and things were opening up, and the tickets were dirt cheap. My thinking was that travel would be light between Thanksgiving and Christmas, although that reasoning didn't take into account the number of people who travel to ski destinations. As the date of our trip approached and coronavirus cases began to skyrocket around the nation, I grew more and more apprehensive. We called the in-laws to cancel and offered to postpone our trip, but the grandparents were encouraging, and my husband didn't want to disappoint them. And the college kids who came home after Thanksgiving were encouraging. They had just returned from a campus of about 12,000 that had just under 2,000 cases over the semester. A large number, but according to them, the people who caught the virus (I almost wrote "got sick" but many of them weren't sick) were those who went to parties or hung out in each others' rooms without masks. The mask wearers/distancers rarely were infected. So they trusted the protocols. As did my husband who goes to work every day with thousands of other service members who are compelled to follow government regulations. His command has had a handful of cases, but all were transmitted outside of work. So he, too, trusted the protocols of masking, distancing, and washing hands.
Since what is in motion stays in motion unless a stronger opposing force halts the forward movement, we went on our trip. In preparation, we cut off what few social events we have - walks around the neighborhood, meeting for coffee, beach trips with friends for the kids - and other than my husband going to work and trips to the grocery store, we quarantined for about ten days and got tested; all were negative. The airports and planes were more crowded than I had expected, but 99% of people wore their masks and kept their distance. Of course, the couple in front of me had to be reminded more than once by the stewardess to cover their noses and to keep their little girl's mask up, so they had me anxious the whole time. During our layover we went to the USO and stayed in a corner until our next flight. But I was still a nervous wreck.
Once we arrived at my in-laws, I tried to be mindful and reminded the kids to wash their hands frequently and watch their spacing. We did hug a few times, but I am afraid I was not especially warm company. Our visit was only four days, and we spent them at my in-laws' house, playing games, watching movies, playing Nerf wars. We had a Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner one day. On our fourth day, a beautiful, wet snow fell all night long. It blanketed the yard about 4 inches deep by the time we awoke. Our youngest was ecstatic, and the olders excited. It was the perfect snow for snowman making and snowball fights, so the whole family bundled up the minimal winter gear we had brought or that Gram had stashed away and ran out for a rousing snowball fight. When the snow was still falling after lunch, my husband began to pace and our fourteen year old, who already has a phobia about flying, began to whimper about plane delays and crashes. But our 7 pm flight left on time, not quite as full, and our return trip was safe and uneventful.
A couple days after we got home, we all got tested again. Negative x7. (Our oldest in Arizona couldn't go, and my husband didn't test because of different protocols.) I breathed a little easier, and now that it has been two weeks since our return I am even more at ease. I am a little sorry I wasn't more affectionate during our visit, but I am not writing this to encourage people to travel. Our experience does give me more faith in the safety claims of airlines, but the numbers continue to rise, and just because we escaped the bullet this time doesn't mean we would the next time.
I'd like to offer some better meaningful reflection on our trip, but I've got to finish those cards and say good morning to my children. I've written and deleted a few sentences about my thoughts about this trip but I can't quite articulate what. I'd like to think of something in the Christmas spirit to do today, but one wants to go to the DMV for a driver's permit test today. I don't know if I can manage it today, but sooner than I am ready, we'll have 5 licensed drivers in the family. I wonder if I will ever be quite ready for Christmas, and life...
A neighbor's Christmas fountain planting
Lights around the 'hood
Modelling a new dress made by our neighbor
Snow! The first morning tracks...
Oliver
The yard post-snowball war
One of many feasts - chicken parmesan
Tree decorating
At least one person is still exciting about St. Nicholas day
Handknit sweater concocted by college son done with school and ready to create
Week 1 - how did 3 more weeks pass so quickly?
A quiet evening on the beach.
