#MicroblogMondays: Home again

• Overall, it was a good visit with my family over Christmas/New Year's. (Even dh said so!) 
• New Year's Eve was pretty quiet. Takeout pizza for dinner (tomato sauce-less for me), card games afterwards. We were so absorbed in that, we missed the midnight countdown! 
• Despite my gallstone issues, I didn't deprive myself while I was there. I just tried to be careful and eat smaller portions, particularly of anything I thought might be troublesome. Aside from one episode after a delicious roast beef dinner (red meat seems to be a trigger food for me, unfortunately), and a few milder twinges here and there, I was fine. 
• AND -- I weighed myself this morning, and I was down another pound-plus since the last time I stepped on the scale, just before we left. Who ever manages to lose weight at Christmastime?? (I'll take it!) 
• I spent the afternoon of New Year's Day scanning some snapshots from an old mini-album of my grandma's that my mom had sitting out, as well as some old letters from HER paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother. What treasures!  
• My sister & her partner came back out from the city on New Year's Eve (they had to work for the three work days between Christmas weekend/statutory holidays and New Year's) and drove us to the airport in Winnipeg yesterday. 
• The airport was the quietest I've ever seen it. There were people (our flight was full, or mostly full -- a couple of empty seats here & there), but overall it was pretty quiet. Great for social distancing ;) but still kind of weird. 
• It was quieter than normal in Toronto as well. We had to wait 45 minutes for our bags to come off the luggage carousel. I imagine they were short-staffed because of covid & the holidays. 
• We only saw PND twice during our two weeks there:  once to play cards, before Christmas/early on in our visit, and when dh, BIL & I dropped by with gifts on Christmas Day, masked.  It's probably just as well:  PND & her dh both tested positive for covid, on both home tests and then PCR tests. The girls also tested positive on home tests (PCR results still to come) but so far, they are both feeling fine. 
• Meanwhile, while we were away:  
• BIL wound up in the hospital for two days (!), and was diagnosed with a potentially serious health condition (non-covid related). He's okay, but it was a real wake-up call for him to make some big changes in his lifestyle and eating habits. 
• The boss at Older Nephew's wife/Little Great-Nephew's mom's workplace was unvaxxed and got sick with covid... and (surprise!) as a result, so many people there got sick they had to temporarily close over the holidays. Unfortunately, Older Nephew's wife was one of the people who got sick and tested positive. Both Older Nephew & LGN (too young to be vaccinated) were also sick. :(  Older Nephew was going to be tested  today -- in another (larger) community, a half hour away, the first place where he could get an appointment. They're not sure if what LGN had was covid or not? He ran a temperature for a few days and threw up several times :(  but he is feeling better now. Thank goodness! 
• BIL & SIL went there to help out... and now SIL's been feeling like crap for the last several days. I sent dh over there this morning with my one precious box of rapid tests. Negative, thank goodness! I've ordered some more, but they are understandably swamped right now and back ordered until mid-January. (The provincial government has been handing out some tests for free in some pop-up retail locations, but -- also understandably -- they go like hotcakes and are like gold right now.)   
• Dh went to the supermarket this morning to restock our refrigerator & cupboards, wearing an N95-equivalent mask -- but says he's not setting foot outside the condo for the rest of the week. ;) Probably a good idea right now...!
• It was good (SO good!) to see my family & spend Christmas with them -- but it's good to be home again too. I'm exhausted! 
• I am so far behind on blog reading/commenting and social media posts. (My time is not my own when I'm at my parents' house!) Have I missed anything important/exciting in your world?? 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.