Available on Amazon: "Equal And Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888 "Tropical Depression" https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY "Can You Pick Us Up?"...Continued from previous post (https://www.ailantha.com/blog/my-covid-christmas-or-my-christmas-of-magical-thinking-and-the-cookies-that-saved-christmas): I once saw a thought-provoking movie called "What the #$*! Do We Know?" that propounded, among other things, that when we see something we don't expect to see the image doesn't immediately register because our perceptions are so heavily influenced by our expectations that when our brains are hit with some unexpected data they need a moment to figure out what to do with it. My brain had just such a What the #$*! moment when at 9:30 pm on Christmas Eve I saw the email from my daughter with the subject line "Can you pick us up?" and only this for the message: Soon as my cerebral neurons regrouped and I recovered from my drop-jawed astonishment I let out a joyful whoop then called my daughter to let her know that, hecks yes, we could pick them up! As it turned out, my Los Angeles daughter's cold was much better, my grand daughters were begging to go to Ohio for Christmas and, considering that I was now COVID-free and feeling fine, my daughter made the command decision on Christmas Eve night that the family would catch the first available flight from Los Angeles to Columbus, Ohio. The first flight she found was on December 26. "We thought about just showing up at the door and surprising you," my daughter told me when I called her, "but we know that you hate surprises." It's true that I generally hate most surprises. But I was overjoyed with this one. I immediately called my Chicago daughter, Claire, ...to ask if there was any way that she, too, could come home for a few days. Sadly, that wasn't possible for her, as she had rescheduled herself to work at the hospital on the days of her cancelled Columbus trip. My local daughter, Theresa, - who was equally thrilled that at least one of her sisters, and eventually her brother, would be here for the holidays - and I immediately got to work and stayed up late Christmas Eve wrapping the presents we'd bought for my grand daughters. (Frankly, I wasn't sure what we were going to do with those presents when we learned the children wouldn't be coming. Would it be feasible, I wondered to ship all those containers of slime?). Our Christmas day plans likewise changed. Instead of Tom, Theresa, and I having a big Christmas breakfast then later going out for Christmas dinner then driving downtown to look at the holiday lights along the river, we hit the ground running on Christmas morning and spent the day making up the beds and cleaning and straightening the house (though I don't know why I always feel compelled to bother with the cleaning and straightening, ...when soon enough after everyone's arrival the house invariably devolves into a happy mess). Theresa also set up an art table in the basement for the girls and, upon discovering that our neighborhood CVS was open on Christmas day, zipped out and bought lots of stocking-stuffers for them and two more gingerbread house kits to replace the ones I bought then gave away (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/my-covid-christmas-or-my-christmas-of-magical-thinking-and-the-cookies-that-saved-christmas).
And then finally on the next afternoon, December 26, Christmas arrived.
0 Comments
My COVID Christmas, Or My Christmas Of Magical Thinking And The Cookies That Saved Christmas12/25/2023 Available on Amazon: "Equal And Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888 "Tropical Depression" https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY My COVID Christmas, Or My Christmas Of Magical Thinking And The Cookies That Saved Christmas On Friday, December 15, ten days before Christmas, I arrived home from a wonderful visit with my daughter and son-in-law in Chicago. Before the day was done I came down with a cough, a positive COVID test, and the sinking feeling that Christmas was shot. My daughter from Chicago was due to arrive on December 23 and my daughter from Los Angeles was due to arrive with her husband and children on Christmas Eve. My son and his wife would be back from Christmas with his in-laws on December 26. I was planning a beautiful family Christmas, full of food, laughter, and cozy holiday gemütlichkeit. What I read in the pink line on that COVID test card was, Ain't gonna happen. And, indeed, it didn't happen. My loved ones sorrowfully cancelled their plans and plane reservations, and I sorrowfully gagged down my PAXLOVID, which gave me a horrible case of PAXLOVID mouth and three days of nausea, but did, nonetheless, knock out the COVID symptoms. By Wednesday, December 20, I tested COVID negative and was feeling bad that I felt so well. But I decided I'd make the best of the situation. Though we'd be missing two of our daughters and our son, our local daughter would be here for Christmas, though she was feeling equally bummed that her siblings and nieces wouldn't be coming. And so over the next couple of days I set myself to the task of creating Christmas cheer, buying a tree, decorating the house and making plans for fun things for the three of us to do, like going to see the downtown lights and eating Christmas dinner out at a Japanese steakhouse and making some fancy desserts. But my whirl of holiday activity was doing little to lift me from my holiday blahs. I found myself engaged in magical thinking: If I got the house looking Christmasy enough, ...and hung up everybody's stockings, ...and if we rustled up the outdoor decorations, ...then my out-of-town children and grand children would somehow miraculously show up on Christmas Eve. And yet I knew they weren't really coming. My Los Angeles daughter was down with a non-COVID cold and my Chicago daughter had rearranged her schedule to work over Christmas and all my magical thinking was accomplishing was to make me feel more blue. But on Friday, December 22 my mate Tom was talking over the backyard fence with one of our neighbors. Our neighbor had just lost a loved one, was suffering from a case of bronchitis, and, like us, would now be spending Christmas without their children or grandchildren, all of whom were sick. When Tom told me about our neighbor it hit me: I'm not the only person feeling lonely and blue. There's a whole world of people out there who could use some holiday cheer. I couldn't change anyone's life or bring their loved ones to them. But I could bring them cookies. I shook off my doldrums and zipped out to Kroger's to buy ingredients for cookies and for chicken soup, a batch of which I soon after whipped up with some hot rolls to deliver to my sick neighbor. That night my daughter and I - my daughter had been indulging in a bit of magical thinking herself - cranked up the Mariah Carey Christmas album, threw off our magical thinking and instead threw ourselves into a two-day Christmas cookie-baking marathon. And as the batches of cookies grew, ...behold, our doldrums took off and our Christmas spirit arrived. For us, these were the cookies that saved Christmas. My daughter and I finished up our baking on the afternoon of December 24 and began putting together the cookie plates. The finished product: I also lit my bayberry candle, which I burn every Christmas Eve, a tradition passed on from my mother, who used to say: On Christmas Eve, a bayberry candle burned down to the socket Brings health to the body and wealth to the pocket. By late afternoon I was hurrying around the neighborhood surprising folks with plates of Christmas cookies. I don't know if any of those to whom we gave cookies were necessarily feeling any holiday sadness, but the cookies were appreciated and in any case we figured they gave the recipients a boost of holiday cheer, as giving the cookies gave us. I also gave away to a friend whose grand children were visiting the gingerbread houses - with all the extra fixings - that I'd bought for my grand daughters to make. I'd also bought for my grand daughters some chocolate Christmas tree ornamnets which I gave away to a neighbor's children. After all the cookies and other treats were delivered it was time to start setting up the luminaries on our block, as our family does every Christmas Eve. When the luminaries were set up and the street was all aglow, we had our Christmas Eve dinner of pasta, stuffed mushrooms, shrimp and hot rolls. After dinner my daughter and I went for a walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the lights on this the clear, balmy night, where all was calm, ...and all was bright. Then the three of us settled in the watch "Christmas Vacation," one of those movies that, no matter how many times you see it, still delivers the tear-inducing laughs. After the movie I gave my email a quick glance before heading for bed. What I saw made me do a double take...it was a Christmas miracle!
To be continued... Available on Amazon: "Equal And Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888 "Tropical Depression" https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY Ten Years A Blogger I've now been blogging for ten years. "Ailantha" was born on December 20, 2013, when I launched the first post. However, "Ailantha" was not my first blog; it grew out of a previous blog, "Tighten Your Boots," that ran a few months earlier, from September 1, 2013 to October 29, 2013, as a chronicle of my first trek with Tom of almost 500 miles across the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain. That first blog, "Tighten Your Boots," was conceived from a suggestion by a friend a short time before we started on the Camino. I had been lamenting to my friend that when I traveled I usually kept a journal of where I went, what I did, what I ate, etc, but that I didn't like doing much hand writing these days, as doing a lot of writing tended to bother my blossoming arthritis. My friend then suggested that rather than writing by hand I keep a journal on an online blog: this way not only would I not have to write, but all my friends and family could follow my journey. And so, from my friend's suggestion, my first blog, "Tighten Your Boots," was born (https://www.tightenyourboots.net/). "Tighten Your Boots" picked up a small readership, and after my trip - and the blog - was finished, a few people expressed regret that the blog was no more. It was my sister-in-law, Mary Jane, ...who suggested that I continue blogging. "But what would I write about?" I asked her. "Oh, just whatever you're doing," she said. "Your impressions of things." And so my sister-in-law's words became - and continue to be - my guideline for "Ailantha." If ever I feel stuck in my writing, I remember what Mary Jane said: Just write about whatever you're doing. Your impressions. And when I can't find the right words, I remind myself to just stick to description. Don't try to dress the writing up. Just tell it, and keep it simple. There was one time early on when I thought I might be able to make some income from my blog. This time it was my son-in-law Miguel, ...who gave me a valuable piece of advice. He said that blogs that make money are usually in a niche category: a cooking blog, a music blog, a sports blog, a decorating blog, etc. He pointed out that people usually don't make money from writing about whatever they feel like saying. On the other hand, he continued, if you just write whatever you feel like saying, then you'll get it said.
That advice also gave me clarity on what I wanted from my blog: I didn't really want to make money; I just wanted to get it said. And so also I remind myself as necessary, just get it said. And this is what I've been attempting to do for the past ten years. For those who might be interested in where the name "Ailantha" came from, here is my first "Ailantha" post, published on December 20, 2013. Available on Amazon: "Equal And Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888 "Tropical Depression" https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY |
"Tropical Depression"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa or from The Book Loft of German Village, Columbus, Ohio Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
Archives
September 2024
I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers. Categories |