Happy Stinksmas

I really want to begin this blog post by simply saying

OMG.

I'm pretty sure this holiday season will go down as the crappiest in our family's history. Thankfully, Christmas itself was okay, even if Martin and I were never quite feeling in the Christmas spirit, at least nobody was actively sick on that day. Well, if you exclude my sister and me. But the kids were well.

Now NOBODY is well. And we haven't been since LAST WEDNESDAY. (I'm writing this on Thursday night. That's MORE THAN A WEEK.) More than a week of fevers and coughs and sore throats and goopy, gunky, uncomfortable eyes. More than a week of full sinuses and coughing till we throw up (only Elka, to be fair) and missing out on seeing people and doing things and more than a week of not leaving the house and more than a week of screaming, crying, uncomfortable, sad, sick kids.

BLAH.

Let's go back to pre-Christmas and talk about the lack of Christmas Spirit around this place. I'll begin by reminding you how completely awesome in every single possible way last Advent and Christmas were. Last Advent was the most joyful time of anticipation I've ever experienced in my life. When I remember that, it makes it easier to see that this year never had a chance, really. We tried to do a good job of keeping up the anticipation, the joy of looking toward Christmas for all the right reasons. And we did have some fun--mostly of the secular nature though. We drove to Bloomington for a day one weekend to do some Christmas shopping and it was really fun and we got a lot of really thoughtful gifts for people. We went down to Indy another night and did the same thing, plus went to Trader Joe's and got a lot of special Christmassy foods and stuff. It was a fun family time! But it never really felt like Advent.

And that could be because of this house we're trying to buy. It's a deal that is going... it's moving... it's just not going smoothly. Or quickly. And at least once a day I get to the oh-let's-just-forget-about-it point. It's a really great little place, a little more than 2 acres with a nice old farmhouse, close to town. There have just been some hiccups along the way and it's turned into a Big Deal of Stress. I've got half my laundry room packed into boxes. I'm putting off buyings like gallon size ziplock bags because I don't want to have to pack any more than necessary when it's time to move. I want to start throwing stuff out, but I don't even know where to begin. I did clear out my kitchen pretty well, but the kitchen at the other house is set up pretty unconventionally. It's not filled with your typical cabinetry, so I can't just imagine my stuff going from my blue kitchen cabinets into those tan kitchen cabinets. It's not that simple. Plus, there's one room there that's going to be our library room and we purchased 5 enormous bookshelves from a local bookstore that went out of business. They are sitting in my parents' garage!

And speaking of my parents, our lack of Advent cheer could also partly be because my mom fell down (don't laugh!) and destroyed her elbow and spent an entire WEEK in a hospital in Indianapolis. That'll put a damper on pre-holiday cheer every time. We never went to visit her, because oddly enough, as we were getting ready to leave the house to do just that, Greta fell down the stairs onto her head and that night evening was spent in the local hospital Emergency Room making sure she'd be ok. (I'd like to add in here that this was many weeks ago and her bruised face/black eye was just getting to look more normal when she walked straight into a doorknob and BAM! Another black eye.) And Christmas as an extended family with the Matriarch laid up, while unique, can be somewhat subdued.

So that's the pre-Christmas stuff. And the idea of The Holidays just meant Big Delay in terms of that whole New House part of our life.

Christmas with our families was nice. We celebrated with Martin's family on the 23rd and it was a nice day. We celebrated with my family on the 24th and it was again a nice time--and the only time we saw my visiting brother and his family during their entire ten-day visit. Because on Christmas we hung out at home and were happy and the day after Christmas was a big snow day and Martin didn't have to go to work and that evening Greta went to bed with the fever and the next morning everything just went down the toilet and that's where it's been ever since.

A week is a long time to be sick. It's a long opportunity to miss things. I almost missed seeing my good friend Joannie. we've missed seeing our visiting siblings. New Years--HA! It was miserable. And now our tree is looking so downtrodden and wilty that I'm nervous about it keeping it up until Sunday. (who remembers to water the tree when you're busy watering your three crying children? Sometimes we watered them with Tylenol, maybe that would've perked up the tree.)

In the end, everybody's got ear infections and eye infections and disgusting sinuses. So all three girls are on ammoxicillin and hopefully will be on the mend soon. Actually, Anja is a few days ahead on her antibiotic and she is doing great. Back to her old self, one hundred percent, with just a lingering cough. I'm hopeful that the other girls will follow soon, but so far Greta is still not back to her old self. And Elka is getting there...

But I've got white things in my throat and the other day when I was AT THE DOCTORS office my throat wasn't hurting so I didn't bother putting myself into the appointment. But now today my throat hurts again and those white spots are multiplying and I'm just so sick of all of us being sick. I'm ready to pack up and move to Florida.

Well, here is a fortunate turn of events. Just now as I was getting to feeling really depressed, Kate Rusby came over my CD player singing "The King" which is the most incredible Christmas/Twelfth Night song ever created and it has lightened my heart.

I can't get any pictures to post. I'll try making a separate post for them. Maybe pictures will be more cheerful than this stinky account of our holiday season.