December

Yes! December! One of the best months of the year!

After the crapfest of the covid year we leaned realllllll hard into the holiday festivities. December 1st our tree went up, did the whole decorating thing and the kids opened their new jammies. I love seeing all of their homemade ornaments. And the ones we have collected from all of our family trips! It’s a fun tradition.

We also went and picked 200 pounds of mandarin oranges with the Pagans. Then we filled paper sacks and delivered them to our friends- I think we have to make this a tradition too! Honestly the best little oranges we have ever had, they peeled so easily and everyone had fun picking them straight from the trees.

Also there is a little photo in the post of Isabelle holding up some art- she submitted her Eagle drawing to the yearbook contest and WON! Sweet girl, she was so excited. Her art went on the cover of all the Manzanita yearbooks. So proud of her.

So, at some point in December I got COVID. I don’t know where or how, I didn’t even really think I had it. I woke up feeling like the flu- no sore throat, no breathing problems. I just felt AWFUL. I basically waved a white flag and went upstairs to live on the couch alone. I have never ever done that before I was just non functional. BUT I had no fever, no loss of smell or taste, in general it felt like the achy body flu. The next day I felt better. A couple days after that, I took Thatcher to preschool and popped a piece of gum in my mouth and realized I could not taste it AT ALL. Zero. I ran home and smelled everything I could find and my senses were totally gone. It was the weirdest feeling. It was also two weeks before Christmas, and I sobbed knowing I was likely to miss all of the family events stuck in quarantine.

I went for a rapid drive through test. A few hours later, my results were negative! Hallelujah! I didn’t have covid! I thought maybe it was a sinus infection affecting my taste and smell. In highsight, it definitely was covid I was just in big time denial about the whole thing. We quarantined anyway, stayed home from everything just to be safe. A week after antibiotics for a “sinus infection,” I still hadn’t regained any sense of taste or smell. I can’t describe how weird it is not to be able to taste things. Like a friend died a little bit.

I went and took another covid test. I cried the whole way there and the whole way home. I just knew Christmas would be cancelled, and all family time specifically with Morgan who I hadn’t seen in a year, would be completely missed. To my total shock, I received another negative result. So confusing.

No one else in my family got sick. No one in my extended family got sick. I did not regain my sense of smell for months and months, actually even nine months later it isn’t super. My taste is hit and miss, there are a few things that are totally ruined. I tell Jazz they taste like covid- eggs, onions, broccoli, toothpaste, some meats, some garlic. I can’t smell certain things at all. It is a real bummer. I think it is continually improving and hopefully it will get back to normal. I’m really glad that the rest of my family stayed healthy though and that we got to enjoy our holiday season despite being petrified of sharing germs.

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