Week 18: Christmas
- This one’s a little late, because… it’s Christmas!
- I was struggling to shake my cold from last week, so with my parents’ impending visit in mind, I booked a drive-through PCR test. All very efficient. 36 hours later the result was thankfully negative.
- In celebration, we had a takeaway curry. And started on the nuts.
- The boys dodged a mini Covid outbreak at school and broke up on the Wednesday, while I finished work on the 23rd. 10 days off for everyone.
- My parents arrived on Christmas Eve. Everyone’s LFTs were clear. It was a relief after being forced to cancel their visit last year because of the last-minute lockdown. The boys were waiting impatiently by the front door, jumping up-and-down as their grandparents’ car pulled up. Adorable.
- Their arrival marked the start of my cooking marathon, precisely scheduled by the minute. I gently boiled, glazed and roasted a big ham, before preparing the next day’s vegetables.
- Santa visited and both boys continued to fully buy into the magic. We got them Fire HD 8 Kids tablets to replace their hand-me-down iPads mini. While the Amazon devices are no match for modern iPads, they are a fraction of the price and support recent games and apps. I received jumpers, books and DIY gadgets. Fully dad.
- Christmas lunch was a success, with only one minor argument during my five hours of cooking. When the children were finally in bed, the adults settled down to watch the undeniably festive Die Hard. Perfect.