So first, we had to cancel plans to host family for Christmas dinner, because 3 year old was throwing up 3 days before Christmas, and my extended family is not keen on getting sick. Which is understandable.
So I made all of our fancy Christmas meal for Christmas Eve dinner, and we ate it on china in courses (because the meat took longer to cook than anticipated).
As we were putting the kids to bed, we both came down with the stomach flu (which maybe we should have expected, but we actually thought 3 year old just had the flu we had last week, plus random vomiting).
We were almost completely incapacitated, and I actually vomited while holding the 1 year old, because I was trying to put him to bed, and had no time to put him down. That made me feel pretty bad ass, actually. Baby went to bed right away after that- I think he decided he didn’t want anymore to do with this situation-can’t blame him. And 9 year old somehow finished putting 3 and 6 year olds to bed, then put herself to bed.
Then we had a horrific night of stomach flu escapades, but we had it together, which was actually really nice, as even though we couldn’t always physically help each other, we could offer up our suffering for each other, which felt very present, since we were basically experiencing the same suffering.
The next day, Christmas morning, the 9 year old bustled around getting things for the middle kids, and told me she was keeping them upstairs so I could get the presents ready. I could not. But I managed to drag myself to my room to get the bag of stocking stuffers, and 9 year old stuffed all the stockings, and then called down her siblings, and feigned surprise over the contents as they all dug into the treats and toys.
She helped us with everything all day, and then told me that she had learned at Thanksgiving (when we were also sick, and she helped whip up a last minute Thanksgiving feast for just our family) that you can always make the best of things.
A friend offered to bring us dinner, and we enjoyed a beautiful, if weary and queasy Christmas, uplifted by God’s love expressed through those who love him.
Leave a Reply