Cold weekend

At the YMCA

 The temp continues to be very cold though the rains have stopped. Our music school is playing Christmas carols on the PA system and they're lots of locals in the Christian Quarter viewing the Christmas decorations. It's the weekend here so secular jews are free from work and have come to see the lights. Orthodox jews on the other hand avoid our Quarter because they consider Christmas trees as idols ... the Old Testament "asherah".

I've managed to complete my work for this week so I started preparing the Christmas presents as I had planned. I hope the weekend will be slow and stressless. I need it as I'm finishing the course of prednisone which usually makes me quite sick from the side effects. It has however stopped my wheezing and asthma attacks and I've had several nights' sleep without waking up suffocating.

I've been thinking how many Christmases I've spent overseas. Too many. I'm not sure if I can go to Bethlehem for the Vigil Mass because I'm not vaccinated and the rate of infection is rising. In fact the Hebrew University claims a 5th wave has already started. I noticed there's a rise in people wearing masks. That's prudent.