Our Christmas plans have been totally upset. We were going to be traveling to Middle Child's home; they were going to be hosting our little family gathering for the first time.
What happened was a good dose of strep throat; both Spice and Smidgen got the formal diagnosis yesterday. In the middle of last night, Smidgen had a fever of 103.2°F. The tylenol eventually brought it down; but all parents know what it's like, holding a burning child in your arms.
Between the stress of travel, the work associated with shutting down the Little House so it could freeze without permanent damage; getting a local friend to feed the guineas and chickens, and the extremely high probability that the strep will jump to anybody nearby, it was mutually decided that we'd really better not make the trip.
So. One day before Christmas, we've got to re-figure everything.
To a large extent, it's easier on us than on Middle Child. We've got to do some fast shuffling, but they were planning on a full house- and now will have just two. "We" includes oldest son Beelar, who is here with us in the Little House.
Christmas for us is a pretty big deal- more about family than anything else; and the change of the year.
Smidgen was disappointed not to be seeing her other brother; she'd been talking about it for weeks. But we're managing.
We've got beautiful Christmas snow here; both on the ground and falling, right now. And strep, coughs, and fevers notwithstanding; we're cozy in the Little House, and Smidgen has refocused. She's cheerfully humming and singing Christmas songs, between coughs.
It helps to be able to change directions with a minimum of drama. Taking it all in stride is an important skill; and likely to be even more important in the coming years.
Hope your Solstice Celebration, in whatever form, is a good one.
We have each other. That includes you.
Time to go make cookies.
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8 comments:
Sorry there is sickness in the house. I hope everyone feels better quickly.
You've been a huge inspiration to me over the past year of reading the blog, unplugging the frig is next!
Thanks for your writing.
AnnaMarie & Family
I'm so sorry for Middle Child because all the preparations and anticipation have suddenly slipped askew. I'm also sympathetic to your plight of a house full of sick family on the eve of Christmas. These things happen and it sounds like you'll find joy in staying put even if it is between coughs.
My family went through several years of holiday gatherings on different dates. We were scattered all over the place. One year the Christmas gathering was held on MLK weekend because that's when we could all meet up. We had a fabulous time because the date doesn't matter. Perhaps when Spice and Smidgeon recover, you can continue with your visiting plans.
Enjoy the quiet and hope of this season! May health return soon!
Kerri in AK
Just to say Happy Christmas/belated Happy Solstice to you.
regards
ceridwen
x
I hope you and your family have a Happy Holiday! I hope everyone feels better too!
Well, we managed to have a fairly Christmasy day anyhow, if a bit on the slow side. So far I have escaped the plague; everybody else is now set in for the long winter's nap, while I tend the fire to finish completely roasting our enormous turkey.
It's been a while since I did serious cooking on a wood stove, so pulling off the whole feast was a little slower than it might otherwise have been. The oven in the wood stove here in the Little House does cook things quicker though, thank goodness.
Guinea fowl and few remaining (mostly _huge_) chickens are doing pretty well in the extremely temporary current setup out there. Roosters just started crowing for real yesterday. Twice daily watering, food in the evening, and we throw in a few apples (many of which are frozen on the trees in the orchard) for variety. Delilah (the dog) also highly appreciates the apples. And so far looks like she might not eat the birds.
Merry Christmas, und Freuliche Weinachten!
We managed to have our gathering, but it meant SIL had to shovel record snow from his and Daughter's driveway in Portland to get here. He slept eleven hours.
And it was nice to have them, but we all got cabin fever and on the fourth day I went and sat in a kayak in the middle of a wind-swept reservoir, with snow coming down on the hills around me and no one to talk to but coots and cormorants, for half a day.
We're sorry about the strep; that stuff has to be taken seriously. And our grown kids remember with awe the Christmas of '88, when we both went down with the flu so bad that they ran the house themselves for a week -- washing diapers, running carrots through the blender for little sister, carrying water, helping the grownups go to the bathroom. Not something they want to repeat.
Batten down the hatches and Take Care.
risabee
Merry Christmas you all and hope you don't suffer too much.
It is very hot here at present and my first salad plants are now well eaten. I hope to get outside tomatoes too this year. Skilly caught a very large Christmas rat which she demolished on the front veranda (except the tail and some of the rear end - it was a huge rat and she is a small cat). The kids are camping on the back lawn (errr...grass. It isn't fancy enough for lawn) in small tents. Thats about as far from home as they will get this summer unless one of us gets a better job! They are having fun though.
There are still quite a few tourists out there but they are not buying much so I don't think we'll get another window this year. We did allow for this when we set up so even if we close permanently we won't be out of pocket.
Next year will be another adventure so hope all goes well for everyone,
viv in nz
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Shannon
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