Christmas 2023
Hello friends and family,
This year the house is a little bit darker and the Christmas cards will be a little lower-effort and later than usual. Let me explain.
First, a fun highlight. Every year my former employer, Amazon Web Services, has a big conference in Las Vegas at the end of November called re:Invent. Aside from new product launches, there are talks from customers about how they utilize the "cloud", best practices, and so on. This year, Amazon asked if I would do a short segment in one of their presentations on behalf of my current employer, Stripe. It was an invitation that I was excited to accept, and this was the result.
Yuling graciously offered to handle the two kids while I was away for four nights, making all of this possible.
Unfortunately, after I returned, there was a small RSV outbreak in Amelia's school, and we've been struggling through the aftermath ever since. First of December, a Friday, was when I first noticed a cough and by Tuesday it was severe enough that I had to take her to the emergency room due to her recurring high fever and cough that just wouldn't quit. There wasn't much they could do besides tell us to struggle through it, but the did administer a nose swab which confirmed it was RSV. At this point, I was already starting to feel it myself, and it pretty much swept through the rest of household.
The good news is the kids are now feeling fine. The bad news is Yuling and I are still struggling to recover after 14 days.
So, because of that, a few bits of sadness: - We had to bump Amelia's birthday party out to January, because Yuling and I just were not feeling well enough to host anything. - While I usually like to really "light it up" for Christmas, this year I just haven't been able to get the lights up and probably won't. - Everything else (cards, shopping, etc.) is just dragging.
We did feel well enough this weekend to set up a little Christmas tree. And Amelia and Jonny got in a Santa photo.
(Yes, Jonny is crying in that photo. It was the best one.)
We're hoping to all be better by next week, as we were planning to head up to Whistler for a few nights between Christmas and New Year.
I hope you are all doing well and I look forward to seeing you in the new year.
Cheers,
Aleks