So Much Christmas

Of course we've been busy with all the holiday fun-- I'm always torn between wanting to do everything and being exhausted and just wanting to stay home.  That's not just me, right?

After being sick during Thanksgiving, I was getting better and then got worse again.  I woke up on a different Thursday morning at 4am coughing and decided it had been three weeks and my throat still was sore and it was time I went to a doctor.  Craig called me as he was driving to work and told me I should just take a sick day and not do anything, but I told him that wasn't possible.  The doctor managed to squeeze me in for a "car visit" at 9am.  

And I tested positive for Covid.  

To quote Buddy the Elf, Son of a nutcracker!  I had so many things going on that weekend!!!  I was supposed to: go to one of my YWs band concerts, see my friend's Dickens carolers at Carter Mountain, and then stop by a baby shower.  The next day I was taking off with a bunch of women in my neighborhood for another women's retreat, this time at an AirBnB in Afton.  AND there was the ward Christmas party that I was going to sneak away for!  

Obviously that was all over now.  (And I felt terrible that I'd hosted book club the night before!)  I canceled everything.  And spent the next two days in bed.  

And wow did I feel GREAT after that!  I still have a tiny bit of a dry cough, but I'm FINE.  I was sad to miss out on everything, but I definitely needed the rest more.  Having a positive Covid test is the only way to not feel bad about not showing up to anything!  

The nurse suggested and prescribed mucinex and prednizone to help with everything.  But it turned out I couldn't swallow any of the pills, so I never took any of it.  Ah, well.  My body figured it out.

So, all this to say, there have been a ton of parties, and I have only made it to some of them.  I missed Pie Night. I did make it to Soup Night.  I managed to go to the temple and see this very nice, and fairly simple nativity:

I want one for my yard!

I missed the Christmas party, but I helped Camille as she agonized over whether to be an angel or a shepherd in the primary nativity.  She really wanted to an angel with all the other girls, but her buddy Peter was a shepherd and she felt bad not joining him.  Watching her try to make up her mind about which to do was fascinating!  She finally decided on being an angel, but not before I got this cute picture of her feeling out the shepherd costume!

Nothing's says Authentic Shepherd more than a towel on one's head!

This was mostly done by the primary kids, but Ryder got roped into being a donkey, which I loved so much!!!  (When I was a kid my family made me be the donkey in our family pageant and then proceeded to laugh about it for years afterwards.  I guess it's a middle child thing, and seeing Ryder follow in my footsteps delighted me no end!)

You can see Camille in the middle of all the other angels!

I still managed to sing with Sarah in the church's Joy to the World concert, which is always a blast!  My voice wasn't 100% still, but I got by.  And I managed to not cough on stage, so that was a huge win.

I missed half of Kendra's choir concert (the half where she was actually singing, unfortunately) because I had to get to the church for our folk dancing activity (I'd asked a woman in the stake to come and teach it, so I felt like I needed to actually be there...  She did such a great job, too-- folk dancing is a blast, but it's hard to get teenagers to actually participate!  But she was wonderful!):

Colton and Camille are still weird:

Little cocoons!

I made it to Ryder's band concert, while Craig was supposed to stay at our house making cookies and other treats with the YW and YM to give out when we go Christmas caroling.  (Unfortunately, by then Craig was sick, so basically I had everything all laid out for them, and Craig stayed hiding in his room the whole time.  What could go wrong?)  But I enjoyed Ryder's band concert!

Ryder was so proud!  He's so cute!

There he is playing trombone

Here he's being recognized as one of two 7th graders chosen to play in the all-county band

This morning Craig and I cooked breakfast for the seminary students (mostly Craig did that-- I was his sous chef):

I was out late the night before for my choir's dress rehearsal, but Craig had everything all set up and ready to go!

Today was the last day of school before the break, and Colton and Camille had dress up days that somehow involved pajamas and stuffed animals?  

That's Camille's snake wrapped around her head.  Not a sombrero...

Colton is informing me that the theme was "festive, funky, fluffy Friday," so there you go!

This is out of order, but Camille got to meet Santa at the ward Christmas party

Also, Craig and the big kids helped out again at the Toy Lift, so that's pretty awesome.  I'm glad they get to do things that are more in the spirit of Christmas and not just parties!

Tomorrow my choir has its two Christmas concerts, which I'm excited for.  Last night at our dress rehearsal, I felt like my voice was finally BACK and functioning at its best.  It was lovely.  I'm just praying that I don't catch Craig's latest cold (or if I do, that it can manifest itself on Sunday, and not a moment before then!)...  Wish me luck!