Christmas 2008: Not What I Expected

Dear Friends:
Everything was all planned out. My holiday time was planned. Different parties to attend, groups of family and friends to make memories with...until my control was taken away.

We had two New England snowstorms two days apart. I helped my husband shovel off the cars and decks. I woke up on my day off not feeling well. I was chilled to the bone and shivering. I attributed my full-body soreness to over-shoveling. But I had three visits planned. It was my intent to keep them.

First to my mother's I arrived at 9:15 with gifts in hand and a moan in my voice. Not so cheery. After a cup of tea and mom happy with her gifts, I left for visit number two.

Visit number two had been planned six months ago. A dental cleaning. My cheery hygienist was the only one cheery in our cubicle. I left with clean teeth, monetary details for two options to fix an ailing tooth, thoughts about getting a cheap night guard, and an appointment for another cleaning on an expected day of warmth in late July. For now, I muttered under my breath as the wind whipped around me. I felt my bones rattling inside.

My next visit was to my special sister's. She provides childcare to the cutest little girls. My sweet niece and I had made lollipops of chocolate for them. We wrapped them in holiday bags and tagged them with names. The largest lolli, one with a mouse, my niece said her kitties would love, so she handpicked her lolli and knew the treat that wait inside.

I had a cup of tea with my sister as the little girls ate their lunch. Just before they left their itsy-bitsy table, I presented them each with their special made-with-love chocolate lollipops. After nap, we said, they could eat them.

They all lay down in a darkened room to take their naps. I flopped down on the couch, coughed some, wheezed some, and moaned some. My kind sister put a warm blanket over me, and I rested as she got my niece and the older child off from the school bus, being let out for the extended Christmas vacation.

As planned, my niece came over and helped us make homemade ice cream: Vanilla Peach and Vanilla Mint. Once the cream and eggs and ingredients were cooked to my satisfaction, I left the rest of the job to my niece and husband and I went to bed. With my earplugs in, I did not hear a thing, not their laughter, nor soft sweet voices, but I knew they were out there, having fun with each other. That was all that mattered.

Feeling worse as the evening dragged on, I did something I don't often do: I called in sick for work the next day. My faithful sister wishes me better health and a nice holiday. That night I did not sleep well. I ached all over and I had a temperature, but felt a chill. My cough was worse, my lungs were rattling, and I couldn't breath well. No inhaler, NyQuil, or cough medicine helped. Coveted showers brought no warm comfort. When I could no longer lie uncomfortable in bed, I went and took my temperature. 101.4!! No wonder I was hot!!

The second I knew my doctor's office was open I called. My doctor wasn't in (of course), and due to the holiday, they had a very short day with no appointments available. After hearing my symptoms from my newly laryngitis voice, the nurse directed me to the walk-in emergency room. In a freezing rain storm, my loving husband, who has been battling a nasal cold of his own, drove me to the hospital, God bless him. I apologized several times, but he reassured me of my worth.

Everyone at the WD Hospital, from the first person to the last whom I came into contact with, was kind, concerned, and very helpful. Obviously, they are in the medical field because they genuinely like people and want to make us feel better. I was there all of two hours: I was given a rush of medicine once I arrived, a chest x-ray to confirm the diagnosis, and three prescriptions to fill and take for the next 6 days. "You have pneumonia in your lower left lung," the cute doctor said. "If you had waited one more day to come in, you would've spent Christmas day in the hospital." I thanked him profusely for helping me feel better, and left wondering the cost of the bill to follow in a few days...

One pharmacy didn't have the pills I needed, so we went to another. While we waited for them to be filled, my patient husband took me to our favorite Chinese food buffet for brunch. I couldn't eat with my usual gusto, but enjoyed what I had, and followed it up as always with a scoop of rich chocolate pudding. To bed, to bed, I went and slept until eleven a.m. Christmas morning. Two Tylenol 3, every four hours, is enough to put a girl in la-la fairy land and dream silly and wonderful things, as I did and enjoyed. I had just enough energy to make my handsome husband and me a tuna salad submarine sandwich for Christmas Dinner. It was surprisingly very yummy. Perhaps it was because I mixed up the tuna, onions, lettuce and mayo with the new Tupperware Quick-Chef-thingy I just got...free Tupperware for hosting a party with family and friends.

The highlight of my day was opening our stockings and getting the jigsaw and glue gun I asked for. I'm feeling very crafty these days. I have plans to make a mini golf course out of some of my niece's little-used-toys and left over plywood scraps from installing our new house. Themes will be: tea party; girl's shopping day; A,B,C blocks; doll house; arts & crafts; magnet-world; Rainbow Brite...you get the picture. So I need the jigsaw I asked for to make the holes for the croquet balls to nestle into, and the glue gun to stick-on all the embellishments.

I also want to make fairy houses. Today while I was floating around in codeine-heaven, between watching the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Nutcracker Ballet, I saw a show about people who built New York City's city-scape of miniature buildings made with nature...twigs, bark, acorns, moss, leaves, etc. My niece and I 'got into fairy houses' this past summer. I'll keep you posted on my progress and share photos of completed projects.

All in all, this was not the best Christmas I've ever had, but it certainly wasn't the worst. It was a change. Not one I expected, wanted, or will want again. But I spent my sixteenth Christmas day with my devoted husband. He is the best gift I ever asked God for, and received. Enough said!

I hope your holiday was smashing and your life filled with love.
My best to you and yours,
Hope you all enjoy a HEALTHY, HAPPY 2009!
Love, Lisa