It’s 5 a.m., ugh! I hear my neighbour’s young children bouncing down the stairs next door and quickly realize the “why” of my early morning awakening. Santa, aka the big guy, must have arrived, which made me smile and reminded me of my young family’s Christmas pasts.

The rule in our household was straightforward; you can open your stockings, not your presents, and pleeease don’t wake your dad and me too early. For the most part, this tactic worked. However, I’m a child when it comes to all things Christmas; being a light sleeper, I would always hear the excitement of the boys scurrying downstairs to open their stockings.

I must have fallen asleep when I suddenly jolted awake by shouting outside, “Look at all the snow!” I guess that’s my cue to get up.

I need a coffee

I made my way downstairs and was excited to open the blinds to reveal a beautiful scene of freshly fallen snow, a rare occurrence in Vancouver. I plugged in the Christmas tree lights and made myself a coffee; I wonder if there’s any Bailey’s? Shit. No Bailey’s; I dig around further in the liquor cabinet and discover an old bottle of Kahlua; this should do.

The boys are still asleep, and if this had been Christmas when they were younger, the opening of presents would have been conquered by now, with the usual debauchery of wrapping paper covering the floor, toys strewn about, or requiring assembly. But, yes, times have changed.

I light a few candles, making it feel cozy and warm inside, but outside, I can hear children shouting and playing in the snow, which seems appropriate timing for Christmas music. I debate the Nutcracker or Apple’s holiday hits. Too early for Mariah Carey? I decide on the Nutcracker, which reminds me of a fun family trip to see the live performance in New York City years ago.

But here’s the kicker

For the most part, Christmas is rolling out as usual, but with one tiny hiccup. Both my sons and I tested positive for Covid. F**K! It was disappointing; no one wanted to be sick over the holidays. Unfortunately, even though we were double vaccinated and showed mild symptoms, the Omicron variant was not escaping. It got us, but it wasn’t going to take us down!

At one point, I questioned whether we should still wear our masks. Googling “isolating with your family” it’s confusing. What are the rules? Finally, we agreed that we most likely had the same variant, so wearing masks would be overkill.

If it weren’t for our positive covid result, one would think this was just an ordinary cold. But instead, we all suffered from the usual symptoms of covid, fatigue (sleeping ten-plus hours!), mild fever, and a slight cough. That said, I was the only one that seemed to suffer from the loss of taste and smell (perhaps the silver lining?) to counterbalance the five pounds I gained at the beginning of this crazy pandemic. Can you be hungry if you’re not able to taste your food?

Not the wine too?

Of course, the double whammy was not being able to enjoy a glass of wine. I tried. It didn’t taste the same or agree with me, leaving me lightheaded with just one drink. And never mind that lousy bottle of wine that we attempted to drink. Even with our covid taste buds, a surplus went down the drain; bad wine is just bad. Seriously. Oh my gosh, even coffee was blah! Friiiiiiggggg!

With a fridge full of holiday groceries, we won’t starve, eating our way through the many yummy treats our fridge offers. The three of us binge-watched tv, snacked and lounged together, which wasn’t bad in the end. I loved our time together, lol; spoken like a mom. Christmas wasn’t as planned, and yes, we were all counting down our seven days to get out of jail. But at least we were sick together, and no one had to be home alone.