By Halloween this year, both sets of grandparents were already asking, ?So, what?s the plan for Christmas"?
I felt all earnest eyes on me as I hosted our pre-trick-or-treating pizza party. Grandparents. Children. My sister?s family. Perhaps even Santa himself was watching. I?m certain that our Elf on the Shelf was listening from his off-season home in the locked basement closet where I store the cleaning products.
?Oh! Well! I?m sure we?ll all get together,? I said. And I meant it. Especially after last year?s lonely lockdown Christmas, where gatherings were restricted to our immediate household, and travel outside each health region was discouraged. But this year, as we planned Christmas, we were full of hope: everyone but the kids are now vaccinated, no one had heard of Omicron yet, and we were feeling ready to gather. But still, a part of me was thinking, Fa-la-la-la-FML.
This year, the official recommendations will vary by region, but they mostly leave it up to individual families to decide what they?re comfortable with. Where we live, we’re allowed to gather with a maximum of 10 people. If you’re vaccinated, it’s much safer. Both my kids, ages five and 22 months, obviously won?t be fully vaccinated in time, but technically, as long as no one is sick with COVID symptoms, we can still travel, get dressed up for small holiday parties, take our kids to parades, sprint through Costco to get our hands on those coveted Christmas Squishmallows, exchange ...