\u2019Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
TJ was grumbling loudly, more bear than a mouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He cursed at the test strip, the line stark and livid\u2014
Because Santa stayed healthy, but TJ got COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His plans were all canceled, the couch was now home base,
With tissues in surplus, NyQuil plenty in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tree still stood glowing, its lights warm and thick,
But cheer came in liquid form\u2014thank God for Knob Creek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only true comfort, the thing that felt right,
Was a hot toddy poured heavy late into the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lemon, honey, and whiskey doing all that they might,
Holding the line \u2019til the Christmas morning\u2019s light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So Merry Christmas to all\u2014keep your lungs clear and tight,
Wash your hands, test early, and sleep through the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if sickness shows up with no warning in sight,
May there still be good bourbon, and rest come by night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Merry Christmas to friends and to family afar,
Though I can\u2019t see you tomorrow, you\u2019re not very far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next week we\u2019ll celebrate\u2014just fashionably late,
Though the timing\u2019s not great, we\u2019ve been delayed by fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So Merry Christmas to all, whether near or out of sight,
And to all a good night\u2014may the toddy hold tight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christmas Eve didn\u2019t exactly read the room this year. A positive COVID test canceled my plans, parked me on the couch, and turned the holiday into an exercise in symptom management and lowered expectations. The toddy flowed like a fountain, because wellness is a flexible concept, and Knob Creek did its part without complaint. We\u2019ll celebrate next week instead\u2014fashionably late, as tradition now dictates. Until then, here\u2019s wishing everyone health, patience, and a Merry Christmas from a safe distance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":334,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,24],"tags":[49,48,50,56,6,57,51,54,53,38,40],"class_list":["post-333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-thoughts-on","category-sick","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-eve","tag-covid","tag-covid-test","tag-family","tag-health","tag-knob-creek","tag-ruined-plans","tag-santa","tag-tj","tag-tj-tryon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tjtryon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tjtryon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tjtryon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tjtryon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tjtryon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tjtryon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335,"href":"https:\/\/tjtryon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions\/335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tjtryon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tjtryon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tjtryon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tjtryon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}