Not quite the Christmas we planned

As indicated by the fact this post is three days late, and wasn't drafted in advance, this Christmas is absolutely not conforming to the plans we thought we had in mind. December was a busy month, with weekends full of plans - putting up the tree, then France, then fetching Teen from university, then meeting Older Daughter off the ferry when she returned on 23rd December. I wasn't quite sure how and when we were going to manage any Christmas shopping, but we do somehow always fit it in. Until this year.

The day we collected Teen, she mentioned that a couple of her housemates had been a bit poorly and she had a slight sore throat, but that didn't ring huge alarm bells for us. We masked as usual in her house as we packed up her things, then visited my sister on the way back to my parents where we were staying overnight. However, the following Tuesday when DH and I both woke up feeling very sorry for ourselves - sore throats, headache, aching bones - we feared the worst. Three positive covid tests later and we knew it wasn't good!

God bless the NHS though - we spoke to various people over the next fee days, and by Wednesday night I had started a course of Paxlovid and then on Thursday at last DH received the antiviral infusion. Things have been looking up since then, but it's definitely thrown a bit of a spanner in the works!

Fortunately Daughter is a seasoned traveller, so with a few days' notice was able to make new plans, and sort out arrangements to get from Portsmouth to her Plan B Christmas. Yesterday she came past on her way to her replanned Christmas, to collect a few items which we'd wrapped and placed in quarantine for her so we got to wave through the window and talk briefly at a safe distance out of doors.

I've managed to make use of the last couple of days to read to my heart's content, which has been wonderfully indulgent and restorative. But I'd been so looking forward to having my little family all around me, and both my chicks at home under my maternal wings. Hopefully we'll all be clear soon, and can have her back home safely.

And at some point I should probably go and see what we have in the freezer which will do for Christmas dinner. It might be scampi and chips tonight! At least we have Christmas pudding and brandy butter at the ready!

Wishing everyone around me a peaceful and relaxing day.