Merry Christmas 2012....

from the sickest home in America! 

Okay... okay I know we weren't the sickest home in America... but I bet we were in the top 1000.  Maybe not, but it felt like that.  Let me give you the play by play of how the bug worked its way through our household.

December 10th: Emma starts getting feverish and lethargic.  And everything else that comes with a nasty cold; running nose, cough etc.
December 11-13: Emma stays home from school and basically is a tired, grouchy version of the sweet child we know and love.
December 15th: Mommy and Daddy but start getting coughs and running noses but get up enough energy for a quick 6th Anniversary dinner/movie on Sunday.
December 18th: Daddy gets fevers and Mommy is coughing her lungs out (almost literally).
December 20th: Mommy gets fevers and goes to CareNow for some quick attention. I'm given antibiotics and cough medicine to help sleep.  Daddy still sick as anything, lethargic and hacking up more mucous than ever thought possible.  Maggie has been a champ through all of this.
December 24th: Mommy starts getting pains in her chest when coughing enough to take another trip to CareNow.  Tested positive for the Flu, bronchitus and pleurisy. Lovely.  Comes homes and sends Daddy to Carenow for Christmas Eve dinner for him to get tested.  No flu, but showing all the symptoms.
December 25th: Maggie wakes up with a fever. :-(  Mommy gets even more sick from the meds she was given the day earlier.
December 26th - 30th:  Mommy and Daddy both down for the count as well as Maggie.  Emma healthy as a lark, and busy with Grandy and Happy and lots of new Christmas presents. 

I'll stop the play-by-play on the 30th just because we felt fractionally human on the 31st but still weren't our normal selves.  Still am not 100%.  Maggie is much better, thankfully.  But as I type Billy's throat still hurts and Emma is coughing. 

I love Christmas time, I love all the traditions, the lights, the story... but I am grateful that I hadn't setup too many expectations for Emma this year, because none of our plans happened.  The few pictures I even got of our holiday were taken from the brave souls who ventured into this sick house on Christmas morning to see Emma open her gifts.  THANK YOU HAPPY & GRANDY. 

There will be plenty more Christmas' in the future.  But this was one for the record books.  I wish I could share more stories of how we spent our Christmas holiday but this is it, sad but true.  But we did get to talk about Jesus a bunch with Emma and I was with my favorite three people. 

Here's some advice we can pass along after our ordeal; Kleenex are nicer on the nose than Puffs, Tamiflu doesn't make you feel better and can make you feel worse, always know where your 24 hour pharmacy is for Christmas Eve and Christmas day essentials, and your washer will break when you least expect it and when you need it the most.