Our family has always had an “out of town” tradition for Christmas. This year, we decided to stay in town. Why? Well, first, we wanted to attend our church candle light service. 2nd, we wanted to rest. 3rd, we wanted to spend some time with the family in town. 4th, we wanted to serve at our church service; as there would be three services and we could serve at a couple to bless others who would like to attend. 5th, we were hoping to visit the local Christmas lights neighborhoods. 6th, we wanted to have a San Diego family dinner. 7th, I was getting an espresso maker… and, wanted to have endless cups of coffee. 8th… well, you get the picture. We wanted to be home 🙂
WELL!… things didn’t go as planned.
Five days before Christmas, I felt myself getting sick. You know, that funny feeling in your sinuses and with a tiny little knot in your throat… the type you think a little extra sleep, hydration, and vitamin C… just might be able to beat back, despite what sciences you know such a maneuver contradicts.
Well… I got sick. And, it was a full blown flu. What was alarming was that my wife ended up sharing with me this article that flu incidences have spiked this season in our town, and not in a wonderful life giving way… at least, not towards humans. Quite the opposite.
Well, I can tell you it was terrible. I had a fever for 48 hours and broke the fever through 3 huge sweats in the middle of the night that I had to change my shirt each time. It was actually impressive. That, along with the usual muscle aches and laying around in bed too much, did not help. Still, I was in good spirits… even if my body didn’t agree.
My wife as amazing. She picked up all the slack, got kiddo out of the house to give me some rest time. Then, sadly… she got sick. Really sick. Sick to her stomach sick. The day I broke the fever, I went from being sick to switching roles with her… trying to nurse her back to health.
It was this same day (Christmas Eve) that I ran out to hopefully redeem things… I grabbed what needed to be had to make a Christmas Eve ham dinner. I made that, French Onion soup, and butter shallot fingerling potatoes.
Everyone was too sick and I only had a few bites. LOL!
Just as I thought we were getting a breather, my wife got worse. I had to contact my family and we all decided to call off Christmas dinner… my sister and her family were also sick; plus, we didn’t want to get the grandparents sick.
Well… thanks to all this mayhem, we gave Nathan waaaaaaay too much screen time (#parentingfail)… if anything, just some respite from the biological onslaught, going on in our own bodies. In fact, he’s having screen time now. Ha!
OH, did I mention he woke up sick with a cough and stuffy nose??? He’s a champ though and is in awesome moods. Heh, he can’t wait to open presents; but, we’re holding strong until mommy wakes up from a much needed sleep in.
So… we didn’t get to have Christmas Eve dinner. We’re all sick. We won’t be having a big family Christmas meal. We didn’t get to attend candle light, nor help out for the services at church. And, looking back… it didn’t seem like all that bad happened and the experience was truly isolated.
AND… that’s exactly the point.
Driving back from the store to make Christmas Eve ham dinner…. I was overcome with thankfulness and warm emotion.
I was thankful. Blessed. Gracious that I have so very much.
We may be sick, but we have our health. Plans may have not gone the way we thought it would, but it’s still Christmas morning… it’s beautiful and we’re together as a family.
And… unlike in our early years of marriage, I didn’t have to go into the office, clinic, or hospital to work holiday hours. I’m my own boss now…. lol, which means: I have some catch up work to do since Christmas falls on Monday (today)… and, I’ll need to make sure all the deliverables and company operations are in order sometime tonight or super early tomorrow to make up for time zone discrepancies.
ALL TO SAY…
Christmas is still my very favorite season of the year. I love everything about it. I love it so much that I’d be listening to Christmas music far before Thanksgiving with lights up before even Halloween. This Christmas didn’t go the way we thought it would have… but, other than the physical discomfort of being ill… there’s nothing I’d change about it. It’s even in this less than convenient times in life that I sit still to remember how good I’ve got it.
Life.
Loved ones.
And, the Liberty to continue chasing my dreams.
PS. If there are crazy grammatical, autocorrect, or other types of typing errors… I’m just going to leave them in. There are other, more important things to attend to, today 😉