As humor and strange changes of plans would have it, we had a nice, sick day at home. I say this with genuine honesty. In order of illness, we’ll start with Dekker being the worst off, dry coughing and fevered, with his nose running like a faucet. Brady was next up, with an angry bowel and a nasty headache. I was third, with the same angry bowel, and Laela was in the best shape of all of us, only fighting a bit of teething pain. However, she did a lot of sleeping, so she’s either fighting something bigger, or is going to be sick tomorrow. I vote for fighting.
The kids slept in forever, so Brady and I opened our gifts from each other in bed, in front of a YouTube yule log video 🙂 It was funny and cheesy, and suited us just fine. We finally retrieved the kids around 10:30-ish and told them we had a yummy special breakfast planned. Dekker cried and asked for water. My heat hurt for him. We got him all changed and wiped his face up before bringing him to the table. I got him a cup of water, which he destroyed. Then I asked him what he was hungry for, and he said “just water.” I figured it would just take some time, and it worked. As soon as he saw Laela having Cheerios, he wanted some. So he had cereal with milk on it, and just a cup of water. He had a fruit cup besides that, and that was it. As soon as he was done, he asked for his presents. We had just told him that morning that he’d get to open gifts, and the prospect seemed to lift his spirits slightly. So we all sat on the floor of the living room and opened presents by the tree for a little while. it was so much fun! He could really revel in his gifts this year, and he LOVED them all! Laela also seemed incredibly happy with her new stuff, but of course, enjoyed the ribbons and boxes almost as much as the toys themselves. They also had a gift to share. Lastly, the kids bought Brady and I gifts! Ok, it was maybe a little bit sneaky on my part, since I picked out and wrapped everything, but it was still fun, and they bought us awesome gifts!!
Once gifts were done, Dekker decided to go downstairs. He didn’t wait for everyone or anything, he just went on his own. He turned on the tv, curled up on a chair, and played with a car in his lap. Sooo tired and sick. We got the upstairs tidied and Laela entertained so he could have his quiet time for a bit, but eventually I went down with the kids while Brady made us a yummy brunch. We all watched a movie together while the kids got to run around and eat and play and enjoy their afternoon.
Both kids went down pretty much seamlessly for nap time, and slept over three hours. We actually had to go lull them and get them up. Unfortunately, having just got home from a trip, we haven’t had a chance to stock up on groceries, so while we were just planning a totally lame but necessary supper of toast and soup, having no bread made it impossible. So we opted for just another laid back snacky meal downstairs. We had crackers and cheese, and apples. We made sure to pump the kids full of fluids and they seemed pretty happy with the day of no plans/obligations.
While the evening played on and we finished up the movie from earlier, I built my special Ikea chest of drawers!!! I’m sooo pleased with the result, and I did almost the entire thing by myself! Brady helped me manoeuvre the heavy pieces together, and he did the final step of drawer slides, since my back was feeling pretty tired. But its done and beautiful and I can’t wait to fill it with all my fun things!
The kids are tucked away now, the bath is running, and Brady and I are making supper. We missed the memo that everyone indulges in appetizers on Christmas Eve, so we’re getting in on it now. Of course, we have very few on hand so we’re makeshifting but I think it’ll be delicious. Its probably good we didn’t try to have them yesterday, since we were all so sick and wiped out after the church service in the evening. Hopefully today is a better day for it.
Lastly, I just want to touch on a post I wrote a while back about mourning the Christmas I was hoping for, and having to let go of plans I had wanted to make but hadn’t gotten to. Funny how we are all sick, and even if I had successfully scheduled everything and done all of it right, we still likely wouldn’t have gotten to everything, or anything! Clearly, this year, we’re just supposed to lay low and be together in the comfort of our own home. And that is wonderful 🙂 I’ve totally enjoyed our home time so far. We had plans to be out tomorrow but it seems that we can’t know if any plans will work out until the morning anyway, so we’ll just go with the flow. Its Christmas, after all. Whats the rush?
Merry Christmas, from ours to yours.