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Oooh, how I wish that post title was a typo.
Guess what I got for Christmas? Stomach flu! I actually managed to LOSE weight over the holidays, but in a totally not worth it kind of way.
We have spent the past few days with my parents in Houston, and they have assured us that it will be the last Christmas in that crowded, hot, sweaty, smelly city with nutjob freak drivers and no zoning laws (there is a preschool next door to an oil refinery a few blocks away from my parents’ neighborhood). Of all the places I have lived, Houston is at the bottom of the list. Yes, even Sherman ranks higher. The parents feel the same way and can’t wait to move next year to a cool, sunny city on the ocean.
Mike, Vanessa, and Bob flew in and it was fantastic to see all of them, as usual. I have the greatest brothers and sister-in-law. All very smart, very cool people.
I was having a nice time up until about 6 a.m. Christmas morning when I woke up from a nightmare about being queasy. And it was all downhill from there. The entire day was kind of a blur of crawling back and forth to the bathroom, trying to catch brief snatches of sleep, trying to drink fluids (nope, not even water was agreeing with me), shivering under four blankets, and apologizing to Doc for ruining Christmas. He was being his usual sweet self, checking on me every few minutes, going all over the city to find a store that was open so I could have juice and ginger ale (which I wasn’t even able to drink until the next day), and trying to make me comfortable. Meanwhile, I heaved and whined and shivered and complained and eventually I was able to sleep for a few hours.
My wonderful mom changed her Christmas dinner menu to not include anything strongly scented enough to waft upstairs to my room and make me nauseated, and the whole family elected to postpone opening gifts until the 26th, when I was finally feeling somewhat human again.
Of course, by then my poor dad had the same thing. He felt well enough to emerge for a brief time so we could do a lightning round of gift opening before he needed to go back to bed.
In the spirit of nonmaterialism, my mom promised no gifts this year, except money to help us all travel to Houston to be together for the holidays. But since she makes the rules she apparently can also write loopholes into her structure: SANTA can gave gifts. That sneaky Santa clause.
Since I was a little out of it during the gift opening this year, I wasn’t keeping close tabs on what everyone gave and received. Gift certificates were popular this year amongst us kids. Vanessa gave Mike a certificate for a flying lesson (yes, my brother will be in charge of a plane. Run! Flee!) Bob spent a lot of time shopping at the Discovery Channel store, which is always a great source for gifts. Collectively, we all gave my dad an iPod nano (green) and my mom a new digital camera to replace her 6-year-old Playskool-looking model. Doc gave me two beautiful giant rosemary plants in giant pots, trimmed into pine tree shape. He wanted to get me something that would remind me of us getting married (isn’t that sweet??!!), especially since we don’t know how much longer our one surviving rosemary wedding table centerpiece that we have is going to last. (It is entirely possible that I will inadvertently kill it, as I do not have the gift of the green thumb. I am just now reminded as I am typing this that I forgot to ask Kathryn to water said rosemary plants and our orange tree while we were out of town. Shit.)
Today I felt well enough to travel, so we came home this evening. It’s always nice to get home, no matter how nice a time you are having elsewhere. The kitties all missed us. Our fridge quit working while we were gone so we’ve had to throw away most of our food. It’s always something, isn’t it? Doc knew I was still not feeling well so he undertook the yucky job of sorting and tossing. Do you throw away butter that’s been at about 55 degrees for anywhere from one to four days? I know you do mayonnaise, and formerly frozen vegetables and meats. Also, jars of salsa that have fermented to the point that they’re hissing are probably not edible any longer.
Unless, of course, you want the stomach flu again. Heh.
I’m still exhausted and queasy (have barely eaten since Sunday) but definitely feeling better.
If it’s real butter, it’ll be fine. (although I imagine it’s too late now, but maybe for future reference) I’m sorry about your fridge.. it died on my watch. 🙁
Actually the butter got saved, as did the peanut butter, pickles, olives, and vinaigrette. I’m just glad we’ve got the beer-ator in the garage to act as backup, since no one can come to fix it until the end of next week.
We’ve had the worst luck with this refrigerator!! This is the third time we’ll have had someone come out to repair it, and we only got it in I think May of this year. Thank god for warranties, and I’ll never buy a Kenmore product again.