There will be other Christmases

Though Ben is symptom-free, his recent Covid positive experience seemed a little too close to travel to Virginia to visit my parents in their very tight, energy-efficient home. Ben was crushed, but we are working on  managing expectations, starting with the consolation phrase, “There will be other Christmases.” Would my elderly parents have made it through a visit from us unscathed? Probably, but to me it wasn’t worth risking their lives. To ensure that they do have future Christmases, we will take a pass on this one.

To salve Ben’s wounds of disappointment, we have been trying to cobble together some fun family activities. One of his Christmas gifts was Spinner Dominoes, so we learned this new version of a game that’s a family favorite. I lost round after round after round at the dining room table as we called each other our domino names (Ded, Moon, Spohic, and Buc) and tried to keep Buc on the straight and narrow. He injects chaos however he can, from playing something that doesn’t match, to playing two at once, or playing them vertically. Spohic was in the lead for the whole game, but in the end, Buc pulled ahead to edge out his sister. To me, it felt just like a rainy day at the beach, which is maybe not quite as good as a sunny day at the beach, but a very close second.

Our week has been filled with wonderful things — delicious food, a lovely Christmas Eve church service, gifts, time together, reading, puzzles, sleep, lots of laughing, and Jake and Sophia playing us Christmas songs. We’ll see a movie and add an extra restaurant meal into the week. We even have time to anticipate our delayed grandparental visit!

Yes, there will be other Christmases, but this one is pretty good, too!