By Florence Dewhurst
– Week 7 –
Another week closer to the big day and the atmosphere is growing by the minute. New lights and decorations are popping up every day and the temperature is dropping fast, accompanied by a Dickensian freezing fog down here in the Blackwater valley.
I haven’t seen the Galty mountains due to clouds and fog this week, but am secretly hoping that they will eventually emerge white and festive before too long.
On Saturday I braved the madness of Cork city with three of my friends. The place was mobbed with people who were no doubt buying their Christmas presents, and celebrating the first Saturday out of Level 5 restrictions.
When we arrived, we were going to make a start in Penneys, but when we saw the queue that snaked the whole way down the alley beside it, we disregarded that idea.
Practically all of the shops had massive queues, but none were as bad as the one for Penneys.
It was a bit annoying that we couldn’t go into the shops without hassle, not because we wanted to go shopping, but because we were freezing! That’s what we get for deciding to go into town on the busiest Saturday in December.
Our family put up some of the Christmas decorations this weekend as well, although we still don’t have a tree.
My brother is always mad to get the decorations up and the Christmas music on, however I couldn’t help noticing that he was the only one who didn’t help with the decorating! Instead, he stayed glued to the Xbox, as per usual. Ah sure, that’s the spirit of Christmas really. Maybe he’ll bring home the tree single handed.
Christmas Day is always a very interesting day in our house, to say the least.
We can always count on my Grandad and auntie to turn up, but that’s about the only consistency we have.
Since my Dad became a paramedic, my Mam has to be prepared to do all the hosting on her own, because he might be working on Christmas Day. Despite all the hours Mam has invested in watching cooking shows, she admits that she is no Nigella, struggling to juggle cooking and entertaining whilst looking effortlessly flawless.
Christmas Day plans this year have the added tension of who might be invited to our house for Christmas dinner – what with the everlasting Covid-19 situation.
Everything is very confusing, trying to work out exactly what constitutes a bubble, and what constitutes a household? Are older family bubble members in your household? What if you have multiple bubbles? Is that even allowed? Yes, I’m in my family’s household, but I probably see my school friends just as much as I see my family, so are they in my bubble?
It’s a difficult compromise and I’m sure many, if not most, families are in a similar position.
So to be on the safe side I suspect whoever turns up, the windows will be open for added ventilation and each dinner course will be accompanied by lashings of hand sanitiser. Perhaps we’ll make it a ticket only event.
I am so excited for the arrival of the long awaited Covid-19 vaccine in the UK this week. I’m already visualising plans and holidays in a Covid free world. It’s hard to believe that less than 12-months ago this was the life we knew and took for granted.
Florence Dewhurst is a TY student at Loreto Secondary School, Fermoy
