(IYKYK)
Happy Christmas! Merry New Year!
What day is it even? I can’t tell you though I can tell you that since the last time I’ve updated y’all, I’ve had lots of champagne, waaaaaay too many cookies, watched my children open too many presents, made countless baking messes in the kitchen, and had COVID.
Hooray!
Since we have so much ground to cover, I hate to get bogged down in the pesky details. Let’s cover the highlights:
My parents came to visit! They had a short stay, given they’ve been doing so much travelling lately and were just in mid-November, but we still really enjoyed their visit. We kept things low-key with spaghetti dinners and champagne, though we did step out for Christmas donuts since I saw that our favorite donut place would be open for Christmas.
The kids had fun opening all of their presents, as usual. The hit gifts of the year seem to be the Ice Breaker game I gave to them as a joint present and the Pokemon Switch game my brother gave to the dumpling. Honorable mentions go to the beat-em-up robots my parents gave to the dumpling, which we haven’t even put batteries in yet (because between the robots and the controllers, the thing requires 10 – TEN – batteries). He loves to play with them action-figure style though. Little bao’s been enjoying cycling through all of her new clothes (a rainbow dress from my mom and a Bluey dress I got her) and jewelry (rainbow necklaces).
[And as a complete aside – we had a bit of a battery crisis this year. They needed three AAA’s here and two AA’s there. Our supply had already been depleted thanks to a few horribly timed battery needs and even though I’d ordered replacement mega packs, they weren’t here yet. I was very proud though because I did manage to find the three C batteries that were needed to power up ….. something. And the thing is, I can’t for the life of me remember what that thing was. What was the monstrosity that required three C batteries?! And, more importantly, can I reclaim them for the battery stash since it’s clear that – whatever it is – it’s not being used?
The Christmas cake!
We picked it up Sunday and had to wait another five hours before my parents made it into town. Literally as soon as they made it in the door, Luffy was asking when we were going to eat it. So we had cake for a snack on Sunday, much to my kiddo’s (and dad’s) pleasure.
The strawberry cake was indeed just as good as Luffy had said it was. Their lemon cake, which was the second flavor we chose, wasn’t as delicious as the strawberry but I think it would have shined had the strawberry not been there for direct comparison.
My only quibble is that the frosting was too thick for my taste. It was creamy and tasty, don’t get me wrong! It was just thick – thic – t h i c. But my preferences run towards a lighter, more whipped frosting anyway so who am I to judge?
We decorated cookies!
I had actually planned to do it with my mom while they were here but, since they were only here for 36 hours, we didn’t quite have the time. I told my kids we’d do it over the weekend.
So on Friday, little bao and I baked up the sugar cookies. I wanted to do half with a glaze and leave half plain for the kids to decorated. We got a late start and I ended up telling them that we’d ice them Saturday morning, though I did get all the cookies baked, the royal icing made and the kids and I glazed half of them.
Saturday morning, I separated my royal icing into five batches and polled the kids on what colors to make (their answers: green, red, blue, yellow and white). I then tinted four of the batches, thinned all of them and – AND – got them all into condiment squeeze bottles because I had this idea in my head that squeeze bottles would be easier for them to work with than pastry bags. I then prepped seven different types of sprinkles into tiny little ramekins and got their work areas prepped with parchment paper.
I was feeling mighty proud of myself before they even got started.
And they had the best time! And the squeeze bottle icing trick did indeed work wonderfully! Their cookies are buried under a quarter-inch of royal icing and another solid quarter-inch of sprinkles, rendering them practically inedible but hey – they had fun. And it’s not like I needed more cookies to consume.
I suppose it’s time to chat about the COVID elephant in the room.
Late on Sunday, the day my parents arrived, Luffy started feeling not-so-great. I first noticed it because he came into the kitchen to take his temperature. He wasn’t running a fever, thankfully, but he took himself to bed soon after.
Christmas day dawned and he still wasn’t feeling well. Sore throat and fatigue. He powered through present opening and then took a few naps that afternoon. I wracked my brain for where he would have picked up such a bug because we’d been nowhere and seen no one over the past week.
Tuesday, he was feeling better but little bao’s nose was a faucet. She complained of not feeling “berry” well. Luffy apologized to her for getting her sick and she spent the day dosed up on Motrin.
Wednesday, Luffy was back to feeling a little tired again but little bao, incredibly, was firing on all cylinders. No complaints at all from her.
Throughout the week, we’d been in communication with our friends from New York who were in the area for the holidays. The husband had tested positive for COVID the weekend before Christmas and his wife tested positive a few days after that. They were keeping us updated, hoping for negative tests so that we could visit before they travelled home. The negative tests finally came just in time for a short visit on Friday, the day before they were due to leave.
Friday evening, as we were getting ready for bed, I started coughing.
“Are you ok,” Luffy asked me as we climbed into bed.
“Yeah, I’ve just got this tickle in my chest,” I told him.
“Uh oh – that’s how it begins,” he said as I turned off the light.
Saturday morning came and I really didn’t feel bad. The chest tickle was still kind of there but I wasn’t coughing. The rest of me felt fine. I did all that work prepping cookie decorating and cleaned up the kitchen afterwards, but by the time lunch rolled around, I felt exhausted. Bone-tired. I laid down on the couch to read but then took myself to bed and napped.
Napped. Me! Napped! So, we know what it must be then. And no, I’m not pregnant, it’s the other one.
Thanks to our friends, COVID was on the brain and Luffy suggested I take a test Saturday evening. Figuring I didn’t have anything to lose (it can’t be COVID, right?), I swabbed myself and settled in for the ten-minute wait, mentally preparing myself for my beloved past-time of interpreting vague results.
Y’all.
No interpretation was needed for that test. It was glaringly positive, almost immediately. COVID confirmed.
So then of course, we got to ruminating on how I would have gotten it. I haven’t been anywhere all week. Luffy wondered if I got it from our friends but I nixed that idea because (a) they both tested negative and (b) I started feeling not-so-great less than ten hours after their visit, way too short for an incubation period. I theorized that it was much more likely that the illness he’d had over Christmas had been COVID and that I got it from him. I went back to wracking my brain over how he could have gotten it.
My best guess is my company’s holiday party that we attended the Wednesday evening before Christmas. It fits perfectly with the latest variant’s average incubation period of 3.42 days. I have no idea how he would have gotten it at the party and not me, but considering it took me a full week of being exposed to the virus from not one but two people who don’t respect my personal space (I kid! totally love my husband and child), I’d guess that I was putting up a good fight for a while.
Anyway. We’ll never know definitively, so there’s no use in guessing. Luffy kicked his round in a few days. I am on my fourth day of symptoms and am feeling all right-ish. I had some shortness of breath in my first 36 hours, but that’s faded. Now I’m mostly dealing with fatigue and my pissed-off sinuses who were already complaining because of pollen in the air and are now MOST DEFINITELY annoyed at the whole situation. I’m on a strict, round-the-clock regimen of sinus rinses and Sudafed to try to get them under control.
Which hey, that’s just where I was three weeks ago. Good to know I’m making progress.
And that’s all the updates I have for you! That I can remember anyway. We spent a lot of time watching Baby Shark (little bao), playing Pokemon (the dumpling and Luffy), and reading (me).
Cheers to 2024!
Musings of Belle 