We’ve had a non-traditional holiday weekend planned, and it started pretty well.

Usually for Christmas Eve, we spend the day at the mom-in-law’s house, where she and the wife will be spending much of the day keeping the rest of us out of the kitchen while they finish dinner. Sometimes “we” just means the kids and I, more often it includes the dad-in-law, and rarely someone else.

With pandemic limitations, we didn’t go last year. Everyone is vaccinated this year, including the kids, so hopes are high we’d be able to visit a bit. We’re keeping a watch on everyone’s health to be sure.

We won’t be going today, though. The wife is helping her dad with a health thing, and won’t be back for a bit. We postponed our usual Eve visit for a Day visit. Usually we spend Christmas Day at home, recovering and playing with toys. But with the grandpa busy thing, we’re trying to go to grandma’s on the Day instead.

It’s starting to not look so good. The girl child has been developing a little bit of a fever today. She’s been complaining of a sore throat and her temperature is reporting at 99°F at the latest. I’m on the brink of dropping some fever reducer.

I made a run a short time ago to see if I could find some rapid COVID tests, but the few places I went to were all out, and suggested everywhere would be out as well. The wife is going to try to get some on her way home from her dad’s house, as he lives in less populated areas, and they might have a little more supply than demand. Of course, they might also be trying to match the supply to the demand, so with less demand, they might give less supply.

Ma had hoped to be home around dinner time, but they had to wait for things before they could head back to her dad’s house. That’s done, and she’s driving this way now.

And, as I typed this, things changed.

The girl’s temperature broke 100°F as I decided to give her some fever reducer. Whatever this is has made everyone nervous to visit grandma tomorrow, so that’s been cancelled. The wife is heading over there to grab stuff from grandma to bring home. Even if it isn’t COVID, anything with a fever that high is worth staying home to avoid spreading. We’re going to keep that news from the kids for a bit, to avoid meltdowns.

The boy child has also started complaining about not feeling well, but his temperature comes back at 97°F. He often has sympathy pains so that he’s not left out, and fingers are crossing to hope that’s the way it stays.

We’re wracking our brains to figure out where something might have come from. Kids were in their “fun day” programs earlier in the week, so a bunch of kids all day, in not quite as careful of a setting as all-day school is. Mostly the same kids they hang with after school, but some other kids who opted for something other than roughing it out at home. That’s a little early to feel too sick, unless something happened right away on Monday, or it’s not too bad, as a tough cold can pop up after just a day; since they were fine all day yesterday, that’s our more popular thinking.

Last Saturday we went to the dance show. That’s about right for a COVID thing to appear, but a little long for something cold-like to have cropped up from that. I was masked the whole time, but the kids had water and snacks from intermission. This is our least favorite scenario.

Mom’s got some of the rapid tests. She found a bevy at a store near her dad’s house. They had a limit of four, so we figured we’d use them on anyone throwing symptoms, and assume any positive is a presumptive positive for everyone.

Healthy is suspect, for the first time. Still hoping it’s something normal and not something pandemic.