I'm not getting home for Christmas, am I?

[Opus17]

I know no one can actually answer this for me.

But I just want to go home for Christmas. I'm from the UK, live in the EU. I've followed all the rules, I was pregnant when covid hit, my son was born in summer 2020. I've stayed home, I've kept my distance, I've worn masks, I've accepted two trips home being cancelled, I've understood it was necessary. I haven't seen my family in 2 and a half years (only my mum once). The rest of my family haven't met my son (16 months). I want to go home. I want to hug my family. I want them to meet my son. I feel teary at the thought of this new variant stopping me from being on that plane in 3 weeks.
I have friends but none of them live here (three very good friends moved away just before the pandemic within a year of each other). I just miss being around my family / friends, it's starting to really get me down now and whenever someone mentions Christmas, I just get a lump in my stomach cause I won't get excited until I'm sitting on the plane.

I'm fully vaccinated. So is my husband. I still breastfeed, so my son should have some antibodies hopefully. We are isolating in the run up to our flight to keep us and everyone safe. We are being as responsible as we can because I'm desperate to come home. I just want to sit in my mum's living room and chat. I want to see my auntie and cousins and play stupid games. I want to visit my dad and his wife, my sister and my brothers. I know this might seem insignificant and silly with how serious the situation is, and I know this. But being apart from my family for so long is unusual and I guess I'm just struggling a bit now.

I've watched people fly all over the place to visit family or go on holiday, and it just seems ridiculously unfair that we could be in some sort of lockdown / have a travel ban when it's my turn. Yes, this all sounds very self-pity, but I promise I haven't been like this until now. I just feel ridiculously sad about it all.

We've had our flights booked for months, obviously if they weren't yet booked, I don't even know if we'd be booking with what's going on now. I'm buying some British treats for Christmas (quality street, matchmakers, mince pies, Christmas pudding) just in case we are stuck here again.

I just needed to get it out somewhere. Thank you for reading this far.

I've started buying bits to make a Christmas dinner if needed. No room for a full turkey but bought some turkey breaststroke and a leg to freeze in case

OP, I take it you’re resident in Germany and hold a British passport.

If you are able to comply with the possible quarantine restrictions there is no reason why you won’t be able to visit the U.K. at Xmas, and return to Germany as planned.

The U.K. won’t ban its own citizens from entering the country, and Germany won’t ban its citizens, permanent residents and their families from entering Germany either. There was a test case for this about a year ago in Germany, and the German national (DE expat & family returning from Thailand, I believe) won.

You are going to be fine, as long as you have an ability to work with any quarantine restrictions, pre-departure testing, etc.

I am also wondering if I will be able to make it back on 20th December. Really not keen to come beforehand if I don't have to. But I am still optimistic about this and that it will still be oaky to travel. A PCR test within two days is not a big deal.

I have travelled to the UK and back several times since the start of the pandemic. When EU borders are "closed", they are not closed to residents of those countries. So presuming the OP is registered as a German resident, she will be able to go home even if the borders are closed to other people. What she might have to do is wait and few days to get back if flights are cancelled and it can be expensive having to buy new flights. It took me 10 extra days to get home after Christmas last year when Delta was discovered and cost a lot of money. As another point, I really wouldn't recommend travelling at the moment if you can't afford extra expenses.