A Covid Christmas

On December 23, the day that all our family Christmas festivities were to begin, I woke up feeling awful. I had a headache, body aches, my skin hurt, a sore throat, stuffy nose, chills, heat flashes, pretty much every awful symptom you can think of (except for tummy issues, thank the heavens I didn't have any tummy issues) my mind went through a myriad of things it could be, for some reason covid wasn't at the top of my list. After a few hours I decided to take a test to rule it out. I have taken so many tests when I was sure I had covid and every time they came back negative. So, I was expecting this to be the same, but it wasn't.

For the first time since the pandemic began, I tested positive for Covid. I took two tests just to make sure since I couldn't believe it, but it was, indeed, Covid. It's timing could not have been worse! This meant missing bread day, Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and spending them completely alone, insert crying emoji here.

I let my family know the bad news and they were all as devastated as I was. Since I was feeling so awful, I spent a majority  of the day sleeping. When I woke up I texted different family members to get updates on how bread day was going, and what fun creations the grandkids had made. Beth was so sweet and door dashed a delicious dinner for me from Zupas. Chicken noodle soup, a turkey cranberry sandwich, chips and a chocolate covered oreo. It hit the spot, it all tasted so good and was warm and comforting.

Later in the evening I get these messages from Beth...

I was near tears thinking of sweet dad quietly making a whole extra bowl of dough and wanting it to be shaped like my kitties, he knows me so well. And sweet Beth for taking on the creative challenge and going above and beyond by adding color, dying bread dough is hard! 

After my special kitty breads were baked the sweet Griffins delivered them right to my counter. I was up in my room and had gone to sleep for the night, and they were so thoughtful to go out of their way to drive to my house, come in through the garage and deliver my kitty breads and a plate full of our family's homemade cinnamon rolls right to my counter. 

My family really came though for me in my time of need and I am unbelievably grateful for every single one of them and all the big and small acts of love and kindness they showed me.

Christmas Eve day was spent watching my kitties be silly from the couch. Thankfully, most of my symptoms were gone. I still had a very slight stuffy nose and was pretty tired and had no motivation or desire to do anything, but that was it.

I watched Dinah and Louis war over this pink blanket for days. For some reason, this particular blanket is their favorite. It only comes out at Christmas time and I watch them fight over it all season long. I got a front row seat to it since I didn't move from the couch all day.

When Angie heard I had covid, she dropped off a big thing of soup, a couple of bread bowls and a gingerbread cookie. It was so nice to have something fancy and delicious to eat for my Christmas Eve meal. I even put my diet coke in a special glass to make it feel extra fancy.

Angie also said I should watch the new season of Emily in Paris because it is so fun and it feels like taking a mini trip to France. Plus, she said we could text back and forth about all the drama that happens this season because she had already watched it and she wanted someone to talk to about it. 

It was the perfect suggestion, it was such a fun distraction from not being able to attend all my family events, and it was so fun to text with Angie about all my thoughts about all the love triangles happening.

After dinner, I got a text from Laura saying she had dropped of my Christmas present! What a happy surprise! She told me she thought it would be fun for me to have something to open since I couldn't be with my family. 

It was such a thoughtful gift, full of so many fun things! She had brought me back a Disney rice krispie from the parks as well as the cutest Bambi beret that she got me for our trip to Paris Disney next year. Laura and I also share a love of Queen Anne chocolates so it was so fun to get a box of those. And she also included a few new things she loves and wanted me to try. I really have the best friends.

Getting ready for Christmas Eve looked a little different this year. Instead of getting all dolled up and dressed in a fun Christmas outfit (I had even bought a new shirt from J Crew specifically to wear on Christmas Eve, I'll have to wear it next year) and driving up to Mom and Dads house, I just put on a cozy sweater and walked back to the couch. Much more low key.

My family Facetimed me when the Christmas Eve festivities began. I got to attend the traditional Christmas Eve concert put on by the grandkids.

In the middle of the concert there was a knock at my door. When I answered it, there was another gift and a plate full of food!

Sweet Angie had taken time out of her Christmas celebrations to deliver a gift, a plate full of her family's Christmas dinner, a diet coke and a gorgeous box of chocolate covered cookies!

Her gift consisted of peppermint steam showers that she said she had picked up for me weeks before, not knowing they would be the perfect gift for a sicky on Christmas! And a book she had read that she loved and taught her so much and she wanted to share it's amazingness with me. I will forever be grateful for these amazing, thoughtful, kind, caring and generous women in my life.

Back to the concert. The phone got passed around to different people and it was always funny to see what they chose to focus on. When mom had the camera, she loved to zoom in on wherever James' stuffed Monkey was. Apparently, he was a big part of the family celebrations this year.

He even came over and gave me a big hello at one point.

Whenever the monkey was with Andrew, he was causing mischief.

The concert ended with a gorgeous piece Ricky had arranged. Pretty much every member in the family that could play an instrument was a part of it. Monkey was front and center during the entire performance.

It really was the most beautiful Christmas song and it was so amazing to see so many family members playing together, they sounded so awesome.

After the concert, mom shared her Immanuel Wreath with the family. It is a really cool advent calendar that has the different names of Christ along the bottom and you light one candle each day and learn about that specific name.

Christmas Eve ended with Grandpa's scavenger hunt, (Grandpa referring to Mom's dad). I had helped make the scavenger hunt this year. Instead of gifts, mom wanted to simplify this year and get each grandkid their favorite candy. So I spent the month of December talking to each grandkid at different times causally asking them what their favorite candy was. Then I went to a couple of different stores to find nice big sizes of all their favorite candies. So I was a little bummed I couldn't be there  in person to watch them find their special treats. But Mike did a great job at FaceTiming it for me, we got some good reactions.

Christmas morning still began with a traditional homemade cinnamon roll. It was so nice to still be able to  have some  of my  favorite Christmas traditions this  year. I enjoyed  it with a glass  of cinnamon eggnog. I had bought  a  lot of this special kind of cinnamon eggnog to share with the family for Christmas, I had made so many preparations for Christmas this year! So, I drank a lot of eggnog for a couple of weeks.

I still wore my special Christmas pajamas.

I waited a long time for the family to call me for Christmas morning. I kept getting nervous they had forgotten to call me, and would text different people to check in. But nope, they didn't start "Christmas Morning" until 3 pm haha

Earlier in the season, I had a special Christmas Day with Vienne and Monty where mom and I took them to target. Mom and Monty were a team and Vienne and I were a team, we split up and they bought gifts for each other as well  as a gift for their mom. I had been so excited to watch them open their gifts to each other  as well  as to see Beth open the gifts  they picked out for her. I didn't get to see them open their gifts to each other which I  was  a little bummed about but I got to watch Beth open their gifts and that was fun.

They had a $10 limit for the gift for their mom, Vienne very thoughtfully smelled every candle at target and picked out two small candles. She  said she wanted to get her mom candles because she  loves them and they will help  her relax  when she gets stressed out. So sweet and  thoughtful.

Mom  had helped them wrap their gifts, they looked so cute.

Monty had picked out some hair scrunchies and a journal with the letter B on it.

This was the gift Vienne had  picked out for Monty. While I didn't get to see him open it, I saw him playing   with them non stop all day  long,  so I am assuming they were a hit. 

When  we were driving to Target, they were giving each other ideas of what they wanted for Christmas. Monty only talked about monster trucks and school buses.  So when we found a monster truck that was a school bus, we knew we had hit the jackpot.

Monkey was still a big part of the party and would periodically cover the screen, such a mischievous little monkey.

We ended the morning with a sibling hug!

And that was my Christmas this year. In certain ways it was the most wonderful Christmas I have ever had. Feeling so loved and cared for by all my loved ones was truly a special experience. I have a  hard time letting people do things for me, so to have no choice but to let people do nice things for me for days in a row  was something I hadn't ever let happened before and my eyes were often  filled  with tears of happiness and gratitude seeing all  the ways my people showed up for me. It was also probably the most relaxing Christmas I have had in a while since I wasn't driving back and forth between Salt Lake and Lehi. And  honestly, I handled  being along  and missing attending everything in  person much better  than I thought I would have. I never felt super sad or depressed.

With all that being said, I don't think I'll ever want to sit another Christmas out, I  love  being with  my  family too  much. I love our  traditions,  I love my mom's cooking and my dad's baking. I love the familiar chaos of having  so many people gathered in one place, I love watching the little moments happening between the cousins when they play together. It just doesn't feel like Christmas without all of that. I also missed our annual ski day, going on the Polar Express with the Madisons,  and Ricky's 50th surprise birthday party.

Over the next several days  I continued to  feel pretty normal, but continued to test  positive.  I was only really sick  for about a day and a half,  my symptoms  subsided really  quickly. There  were a  couple   of  days  were my taste kind of  came and went, it wasn't ever  completely gone. But when I would have those little windows of  having  better taste, I would run and grab a treat. Usually eggnog and my  favorite chocolate covered gingerbread cookies.

Bless my cats for keeping  me company for all the days I was quarantined  at home. They  were  the  only  other  living  beings I had contact with, and they had to  put up with  a lot from me.

 One day I sorted them into Hogwarts houses. Louis is a Hufflepuff like me, which totally  fits his  personality.

Dinah is a Ravenclaw. Honestly, I thought for sure she would be in Slytherin, but I  love that she is a Ravenclaw, she is super smart.

They did an amazing job at keeping me company and  keeping me entertained.

I tested every other day up until New Years. Every time it came back positive I was shocked, I was feeling so normal! It took until January 4, for me to FINALLY test negative. I might have tested negative earlier but I didn't test the first 3 days of January.