Missed Christmas Greetings

I used to have a system that worked. Towards the end of the year, I would sit down and write our Christmas letter, lay out photos to sum up the year's highlights, scan our signatures, paste it onto the letter, print it, fold it to fit into Christmas cards and send it to loved ones all over the world by Royal Mail's last Christmas posting date. For the three consecutive Christmases we have spent here in the UK, we have been able to touch base with a lot of our loved ones (those whose addresses we know).

Alas, this year, it was not to be.

Blame it on the PhD, yes, I do! This whole research thing has drastically affected my Christmas letter assembly line. First, there were writing deadlines which conflicted with the last Christmas posting dates. Second, there was no time to sneak in doing Christmas greetings in the department while working on my simulation codes. Third, there was no energy left in me at the end of the day to do much more than brush teeth (mine and the kids') and crawl under the duvet.

Then, just when I had resigned myself to just sending New Year greetings and letters, three of us (E, O and myself) all fell ill. Various ailments - fever, rashes, the winter tummy bug, hypertension, influenza - these hounded us for a full week, during which time I rejoiced that B didn't catch any of our viruses or physical stresses. I missed a week of research, E missed 3 days of school, and O was effectively housebound, too. Our flat was a virtual hospital ward, where I quarantined myself from the rest of the family because mine was the viral tummy bug that I didn't want anyone else to catch.

So there, 2008 winter norovirus, you won. No Christmas letter from us this year. Sigh :( Much as I'd like to still try to send them out before the New Year begins, I'm still recovering from that week with a lot of bed therapy and sleep appreciation sessions during the break. But we'll see how I can make it up to people in the New Year... I haven't totally given up yet...