Warning: what follows is just plain ol' whining.
Christmas Eve: opened all our presents (that would be the KIDS presents) in the morning. Will's favorite present was his real (adult-sized) sleeping bag. Ben liked his so well he immediately wanted to lay in it. Ellie has enjoyed playing with not 1 but THREE new baby dolls this week.
Christmas Eve afternoon I picked up our Christmas meal at Stop-and-Shop. O yes, I certainly did. When I called to order the meal they didn't have turkey dinners left, only ham. No problem. I asked if the sides are the same and was assured they are. They are not. $60 got me a ham, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, a dozen rolls and an apple pie. To say I feel gyped is an understate-ment. I discovered this definite lack in our meal about 2 hours before the store closed. It had been a madhouse earlier in the day. No way was I going back. So I looked through my pantry to see what I could find to go with a ham dinner. I whipped up some cornbread dressing and carrot casserole and added a can of green beans to our menu.
And I prayed. I prayed "loaves and fishes" as my friend, Gina, would say. Cause as of Sunday I had 4 confirmed guests. Monday night I had 6 confirmed guests. I had no idea how many people would show up.
Christmas Day we had 11 guests in my 1200 sq. foot house. To add to my food prayers, both boys were sick. I thought their colds were mostly gone by Christmas Day. Ha! They hacked and hacked all morning. The coughing was disturbing because they coughed up stuff and then gagged on it. So you thought they are going to vomit with each hard cough. By the end of the day, both boys threw up not once but TWICE. Will did it in front of guests and all over himself and me. Merry Christmas everyone. Or not. The hilarious thing is that the puke all over him and me didn't stop anyone from eating. They just kept right on enjoying the pumpkin pie!
By Thursday Ellie and I caught the same cold. Lucky for me I already had a check-up scheduled with my doctor. Joel worked from home so I could visit the doctor then Price Rite and Wal-Mart. Of course she said I have a virus and it will run it's course. Glad I saved my $25 co-pay and didn't take the boys to the pediatrician. Let me just say shopping while sick and weaving around after-Christmas-sales shoppers is so NOT my idea of a good time.
Then Saturday Joel took Will out for a breakfast date. They had a good time. Which was nice for them because Ellie cried all but 20 minutes that they were gone. Not so nice for me. In the afternoon we made a trip to the mall for new glasses. Well 5 minutes in LensCrafters convinced us we needed to look somewhere else. Seriously, $250 for frames!!! I don't care who designed them, they are not worth that kind of money! So to Sears Optical we went where we each got nice frames for a reasonable price. The price was made even more reasonable by our vision insurance (using the insurance before the year ran out was the reason for this family outing!).
Today, Sunday, I just didn't have it in me to go to church. Especially since it's a family Sunday and I would have spent the sermon wrestling Ellie in the hallway. So she and I stayed home and the boys went to church.
I am ready for this week to be over. The kids all feel well enough to torture each other (and me) but not well enough to take the torture without wailing and gnashing of teeth. Joel says I sound miserable (my voice and coughing). I told him I feel too well to stay in bed but not well enough to do anything out of bed. Which means my house is a wreck and I feel just good enough to care but not good enough to do anything about it.
Let's just conclude by saying Christmas 2007 was one for the history books. I don't think I'll forget it soon!
5 comments:
You've been a trooper, taking care of the kids (and letting them live) even while your sick. Thank you.
I just wanted to apologize for laughing out loud when I read about Will vomiting. Hope you feel better soon.
Steph, We had a very Merry Christmas in NC...complete with a trip to the ER in the wee hours of the morning on the 24th. Caleb and Ethan were so sick. I have never seen a virus like the one they had. They basically vomited every 10-15 minutes or so for hours. Caleb vomited more than 20 times...Ethan more than 15. I lost count. I have no idea how many loads of laundry I did and THANKFULLY they did not have to have IVs for Christmas. The doctor said they were borderline and probably could have used the IVs, but he wanted to give them every chance to rehydrate with Pedialyte rather than keeping them in the hospital. It was most definitely nightmarish!!!!!! Oh MYYYYY! We had to look up a local washeteria because one quilt that took the brunt of it wouldn't come clean in my washer. I was bleaching and Lysoling everything in sight!!!! Todd got sick, too. Connor had a mild case, but I was all clear thankfully. I told Todd in the middle of the night before I collapsed on the couch after making sure everyone was clean, hydrated, and fever free for the hundredth time..."I better get a really, REEEEEAAAAALLLY nice mother's day gift this year!!!!!" :) Of course, I was joking, but seriously....I've never been so exhausted or wanted more for something to just GO AWAY because my poor guys were so pitiful. They looked like they'd been through a war. Christmas morning they didn't even feel like opening Christmas presents so we waited till that afternoon before having the subdued celebration. :)Everyone is well now!!! This is why I didn't send out our Christmas email I was going to send. I had a little down time here at my parents tonight and decided to check in and see how you guys are. :)Sounds like you guys had a similar Christmas to ours. :) I was laughing on the way here because I was writing in our Christmas Memories Journal about Christmas and was reading previous years. I thought that this year will be one we'll definitely have to laugh about in years to come.
Happy New Year to you guys!!! :) Christie
I think Christie wins the "Worst Christmas" prize!
This is not the first or worst time Will has puked on me. This time he hadn't eaten much of anything so it wasn't bad.
I think the funniest part is guests eating in the midst of the "excitement"! Who would have thought? Hope you're feeling better...maybe next time we talk we'll actually have voices?!
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