You know I had an interesting Christmas when I tell you this was the only picture I took Christmas Day. Seriously.

It all started on Friday morning. MM woke up with a nasty stomach bug and had to stay home from school, starting his Christmas vacation a day early. He was not pleased about missing out on Pajama Day at school, much less seeing all his friends one last time before winter vacation. But all things considered, we figured the timing was ideal as Dan had the day off and we were able to stay home and treat his fever and other flu-like symptoms and luckily he didn’t get sick again the rest of the day.

That night my parents arrived to visit us for Christmas. Since the kids were feeling better, we spent the next day out and about a bit with grandpa and meme as we got ready for Santa’s arrival. The next day being my birthday of course. Dan made me a root beer float chocolate bundt cake which was amazingly delicious and the night went well until poor BB came down with the same bug that night and kept us all up that night.

By Christmas morning I’d come down with it, too, and I spent most of Christmas in a trance, struggling to stay awake and present to enjoy the day with my family. The kids were doing a bit better by then, especially MM who it turns out was very lucky to be sick two days before so he could enjoy his Christmas Day.

Highlights I can vaguely remember:

• MM got two chairs built by daddy and a toolbox, scrabble junior from mommy and a toy car from Santa – other big hits included a plush Woody from Toy Story, a plush Perry from Phineas and Ferb, five of the Piggie and Elephant books by Mo Willems, a Crayola Glow Dome and a US Map floor puzzle.
• BB got an Elmo doll and a piglet doll (and a million other stuffed animals), several awesome picture books including Ladybug Girl, Knuffle Bunny and Tickle Monster; awesome new headbands and scrunchies, a xylophone, a hand knit (or perhaps crocheted) tea set (seriously) from her amazingly talented Auntie and other wonderful things I can’t remember that she adored.
• The family got Michael Buble’s Christmas CD, a Holiday collection of Charlie Brown DVDs, the new Winnie the Pooh movie and a rum cake from grammy.
• Between my birthday and Christmas, I received a laminator, some Rachel Ray bakeware, Bananagrams, a beautiful snow globe, a flour shaker from Pampered Chef, and copies of Seriously I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres and Bossypants by Tina Fey (Squeals!!!).
• Dan got a router table and bits, an assortment of 3D puzzles to put together with MM, a sun dial and other things I can’t remember. Did I mention I was half delirious that day? My point is, the family was feeling very happy and blessed in between bouts of nausea.

That night I had Ramen Noodles for dinner while the rest of the family ate a delicious (I’m assuming) Maple and Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin with veggies and homemade dinner rolls. Shortly after I went to bed.

The next day I was feeling a bit better and MM had come down with pink eye. Hurray! In between resting and cleaning eye balls and my husband being kind of my hero for taking care of the family for so many days, we browsed around a few more stores, went to Olive Garden for a dinner I barely ate but still enjoyed and spent time with my parents.

That night while we watched random things on tv, Dan began to feel the first pangs of the illness and by Tuesday morning he was down for the count and I got to don the role of Healthiest Person in the House – I was finally able to get a prescription for MM’s pink eye and begin treating it, and I started doing dishes and organizing the toy room and doing laundry. We watched lots of movies and said goodbye to grandpa and meme in the afternoon when they left for their flight home.

It was now my turn to eat sort of delicious looking food while Dan ate english muffins and ramen noodles and drank lots of water and slept most of the day. We’d come full circle I suppose you could say.

The good news is, this morning Dan was feeling well enough to go to work, MM’s pink eye is responding well to medication, we somehow got enough housework done over the weekend that my home is not completely trashed and in spite of all that craziness, we still had a nice Christmas weekend and enjoyed our time with grandpa and meme while they were here. I just don’t have a lot of pictures to show for it.

How was your holiday weekend? Hopefully less chaotic than mine!