Christmas 2021.

 It's been a year.   

Lots of surgeries and recovery time.   Loss of 2 people we hold very dearly, my husband's mom and my dear aunt.   Covid 19.    And, bathroom remodeling.   

But we're still here.  We're happy to be celebrating Christmas this year even though it's going to take us a few weeks to get it done.   We're celebrating with my husband's Dad and one of his brother's family today, then next weekend with our son and daughter-in-law from Mississippi, and then in the first couple of weeks of January, we'll be meeting with the extended families if they meet.  We've celebrated for the past couple of weeks with our church family.   

Christmas is always bittersweet as we mourn Christmases past and family members who are not with us anymore, but it's always beautiful.  

It's 9:00 a.m. as I write this and youngest son, the person I know who loves Christmas the most is already up (though he worked late last night) wrapping presents and making me smile.  

Merry Christmas!   

Job Title.

 Youngest son decided on the job title he'd like to have in the future:   Eccentric Millionaire.  

Looking ahead.

 We are trying to move ahead,  We are making plans and looking forward to the holidays.   We have moved the location of Thanksgiving so that it will not be at my mother-in-law's house, though my father-in-law still lives there.  It seems like it would just be too emotional to have it there.  So, we're having it at my brother and sister-in-law's house.  We've got a lot of cooking to do this week for all the feasting.  I'm not ready and would kind of like to skip the holidays this year, but I'm going to put on my brave face.  I guess that's best.  

Believe it or not, I've already started my Christmas shopping!  My family has been pretty prompt about sending me their lists (most of them) and I've been better about just going ahead and ordering them.  Usually, I hesitate and obsess for a few weeks.   

We officially are done with the bathroom remodel, at least from the contractor's point of view and now we just have to finish some trim, a tiny bit of painting, and  set up the new bathroom furniture.  We are also getting our driveway graded even as I write this.  Things are happening to make the house look nice going into the holidays.  It's a money pit, so it's never done, but I can be happy with that is.   I guess.  :-P  

Anyway, happy Thanksgiving week! 

Fall break and crisis.

 We just got home from a lovely little weekend break.  We went to Cullman, Alabama to meet our son and daughter-in-law.  We saw the local sites and played some board games and video games.  It was very nice.  However, in the middle of this vacation, we had a call from my father-in-law that my mother-in-law was not doing well and she was hospitalized that night.   Now she has passed away and we are doing funeral planning.  It's been a shock how quickly it all happened and very sad.  She was a wonderful person and the holidays are going to be difficult this year without her.    

We're still here.

 Things are looking up in some ways.    Husband is doing better post-Covid.   He's able to do some things now, but still gets tired easily.   The bathroom renovation is ongoing.  We're on week 4.   No more of my friends have gotten Covid, thank God and the numbers seem to be going down here finally.  Work is still kind of frantic and annoying, but that seems to be the norm with the supervisor we have now.  I think it's a management problem.   I'm tired of it.   

I have some fun things scheduled and I'm trying to focus on those!   After all these years of writing this blog, I have gotten better at focusing on the good.   A little better, anyway.   

Still after all these years, hanging in here.

 It's still rough.  My husband is trying to get over COVID but it's a horror.  He still feels very bad and it has been weeks.  He's still very weak.  Two of my friends are out of the hospital, one is on long-term oxygen and the other I don't know how she's doing.  I only keep up with her on Facebook, but I heard she went home.  The other friend passed away last weekend.  The funeral was Wednesday.  She leaves behind a husband in his 50s, 3 daughters and 7 young grandchildren.  It's heartbreaking.  

Along with all this, our scheduled bathroom remodel has begun this week.  I was told it would take 3-4 days, but it's day 4 and there's no end in site yet.  Sometime next week, I assume.   Having workmen in your house all day is kind of stressful, plus my work has been crazy.  We are short-handed and the work pace is frantic.   

I'm trying to hang in there - a phrase I have used off and on for many years on this blog.   

It's been kind of rough.

 My husband had a pretty difficult time with Covid.  He did not (so far) have to go to the hospital but there was one night he would have asked me to take him but decided he didn't feel strong enough to go.  He lost 20 pounds in 14 days, despite my going to the store pretty much every day to find things he would be able to eat.  At this time, I've got a couple of friends and an acquaintance in the hospital, a dear friend who just got out of the hospital and is going to have to be on oxygen for quite a while.  It's rough out there.  Two of my friends are on ventilators.   My mother-in-law is not doing well at all and we can't go over there or do anything much to help.  It's been a frustrating, stressful time.  

The Invisible Enemy.

 It's here.  Despite being very cautious, following all the rules to the T and getting vaccinated as early as possible, my husband has COVID 19.  It feels very unfair.   He feels very, very bad.   We're trying to cope as best we can.  We are all vaccinated here in this house and my son and I have still been going to work.  Apparently, that's the new policy, if you've been vaccinated, the chances are supposedly less than 5% you'll get it, so where we work, you still need to go to work (as we are desperately short-staffed.   Normally I work at home, but I've spent 5 of the last 9 workdays in the office because someone was out with COVID and people were being pulled everywhere to cover.   It's been a wild week.  I've finally got a day off and I am going to spend it in my room, by myself.  My husband is warning people if he needs to come into a room so we can go out of it.   We're wearing masks at home.  I'm sleeping on various couches trying to find a comfortable spot.  And now my daughter is showing (thankfully milder) symptoms and is going to get tested today.   

Prayers please.  

Update:   My husband is feeling better.  Has been fever free for 3 days.   However, I think it's going to be a long time before he feels normal because he has been so weak.   

And also now our oldest is very near the path of the hurricane.  

More prayers please.