Do you have a Back-up Plan for Christmas?
Do we need a back-up plan for Christmas? We all thought that this was going to be the year that normality returned. We are allowed to mingle and there are no restrictions in terms of numbers gathering etc etc. We all know that we have to be personally responsible in terms of if we’re ill don’t knowingly spread our germs around by visiting others, going to work or just carrying on as normal.
But this year, we’re still not in a great position.
Coughs, Colds and Everything Else!
We’re all coming down with coughs and colds, which we’re spreading around. Employers want you to be at work and we don’t want to be penalised financially, so it’s a bit of a vicious cycle.
The school’s stance is that if your child has a general cough and cold that they should attend school, which again adds to the spreading.
People aren’t using their heating as much which probably isn’t great if you’re poorly and need to stay warm to recover.
We’ve also got Scarlet Fever going around both of our kids’ schools at the moment which is very contagious and not very nice. Belle had this a few years ago and it was a very worrying few days for us.
Strikes
It’s not just illnesses that we’re contending with at the moment. Just when we thought we could have a normal Christmas, the rail strikes were announced which is going to impact so many people hoping to travel to see family this Christmas.
Border strikes are also happening, so again if you are planning to travel by air there are loads of warnings that delays and cancellations are inevitable.
Postal strikes have meant that some of our purchases might not turn up over Christmas, which isn’t the end of the world but has a huge impact on small businesses that have taken huge hits over the last few years anyway.
Health strikes are going to have a huge impact on routine healthcare, but all emergency work will continue.
Cost of Living
Never has life felt more doom and gloom than it does at the moment. I’m part of local mums’ Facebook groups, and every day it’s flooded with people asking for advice regarding not being able to cover bills, not having enough money for food and lately a very sad stream of parents offloading their worries over not being able to provide a ‘good enough’ Christmas for their kids.
I should mention that there are a lot of people who are in a better position offering help and support to families which is absolutely amazing. We’ve been putting together presents for children who otherwise might not get anything for Christmas. I think this is a good lesson for our children to know that they are fortunate and not all children have the same as them so showing kindness is always a good thing to do. We’re not well off by any means but are happy to support others.
Weather
We live in Devon and had a very light sprinkling of snow at the weekend. We were predicted snow last night but this didn’t happen. However, we have had heavy snow in the past and given that we as a country are completely unprepared for and may also have an impact on our plans.
Back-up Plan for Christmas
So my point of this post was that given all of the above, many of us might not make it to our preferred destination this year. Given the predicted weather and strikes you may not be able to get where you want to be, and if someone in your household or the household you’re going to gets ill, you may need to change your plans.
So does that mean we all need to have a back-up Christmas Dinner plan just in case?
We’re due to go to my in-laws and it’s about a half an hour drive away from us, Chris’ sister is around an hour away and our son is coming from Winchester.
I’m keeping everything crossed that none of us gets poorly so that we can spend the day together, but obviously, if any of us are poorly we’ll have to stay at home.
I’m thinking that we might have to stock up the freezer just in case this happens so that we can still enjoy a Christmas Dinner. Otherwise, there’s going to be a mass hunting of turkeys, veg and all the trimmings come Christmas Eve!
Do you have a back-up plan?