There’s never a good time to be sick. Especially for someone who never gets sick. And especially with Covid.

My husband and I are fully vaccinated and boosted. We never thought it could happen to us. But it has. He’s been sick with bronchitis for almost three weeks and now we’ve both tested positive for Covid.

Fortunately because of the vaccines we probably don’t have it as bad as without them, but it’s definitely not a good thing to get. We’re exhausted, achy, coughing, and generally miserable. 

And thankful we don’t have it any worse than we do, because it could be so very much worse.

However, I had one of my feelings that we needed to get all of our decorating done before Thanksgiving, which we did, because we don’t know when our grandson will make his appearance and we wanted to be ready. And most of our shopping for the grandkids is already finished and wrapped thanks to Amazon.

But there are still things I want and need to accomplish, like making cookies and doing gingerbread houses with the grands, and having friends over for dinners, but that’s certainly on hold for now.

However, lying around like this is actually giving me time to reflect on some of the things that are important, especially at this time of year, that we tend to forget about in the hustle and bustle of “doing” rather than “being.”

Yes, the decorations are important because they give our home a Christmasy glow, but decorations cannot be fully appreciated unless family and friends are around to enjoy them with us. And right now, it’s just the two of us. And we don’t know how long it’ll be before we can be around others, or even go out and visit our friends and finish last pieces of shopping we can’t do online. Sending pictures and Face Time isn’t the same.

But then I start to think about how we are still so richly blessed, even feeling as bad as we are. Because we have access to good medical care, a warm home to keep us safe while we recover, and enough food and other essentials to last us through this quarantine period, however long (and hopefully not much longer) it may be. Very fortunately it’s not like in the beginning of this pandemic when so many who were struck down didn’t survive, and I credit that to the vaccines we have had.

We are not facing forced isolation because we contracted this virus, as has been happening in other countries. We are quarantining ourselves because it’s the right thing to do.

It also gives me time to reflect on the blessings we’ve had during the year. Yes, it’s been challenging in a lot of areas, but we’ve gotten through it. And the blessings have outweighed the challenges.

There are still things I really want to do before Christmas, but now I’m not sure if all of them will happen. Making cookies is a Christmas tradition we’ve enjoyed for many years. It’s not only about the goodies themselves, but it’s the family involvement with our daughter and now her daughters, the fun of seeing them helping decorate their own cookies and being able to take them to their friends. It’s also the fun of sitting with them decorating gingerbread houses, which isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but it’s a special time together, and right now I’m not sure when we can even get together for it.

And there is still some shopping to do, but it’s mostly for each other, and there’s not really anything we really need, so if doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. Christmas is not all about giving and getting gifts. It’s about love for each other. And we have lots of that.

But one of the worst parts is that our grandson may be coming into this world soon, and we may not be able to be there for the event. We may not be able to see in person our granddaughters meeting their baby brother for the first time. We most likely won’t be able to meet him in person for several days or more after he’s born unless we get well very quickly. But that’s not in our control either, and as long as mother and baby are healthy that’s all that matters.

No, this isn’t how we planned to start the holiday season, but it is what it is. And hopefully we’ll be over this sooner rather than later, and will be able to get together with our family and friends and continue on with our holiday traditions. And appreciate them a lot more.