The Christmas of sickness
I don't think it's ever happened to us around Christmas before, but we've had a lot of this:
And this:
I think everyone is finally on the mend now (and so far I haven't gotten sick), but whatever this bug is, it is slooooow to leave (at least, once it develops into pneumonia and bronchitis!).
Fortunately, on Christmas morning, everyone did feel well enough to open gifts.
Something that makes my heart happy: the genuine excitement all four of our kids have over giving gifts to each other and watching each other open presents.
It actually seems to supersede their excitement over opening their own gifts, and I'm so grateful for that. It's not that they lack enthusiasm over their own gifts or anything...just that giving has seemed to naturally become slightly more exciting.
Pretty sure my favorite thing is this adorable All-Clad 2 quart saucepan.
I love it. And I might be drumming up reasons to use it.
"Anyone want some soup? Cream of Wheat? Oatmeal?? Anyone??"
Katy texted me to ask if the velvet gift bags were out (but of course!), so I sent her photographic proof.
Sonia and Zoe felt well enough for a while to try out Zoe's new window markers. Sonia bought them for her a few months ago when she and I found them on clearance at the grocery store. 😉
And I made caramel monkey bread for breakfast, though appetites were small.
As per usual, we spent the day in our pjs, which, let's be honest, is how pretty much every day has been here during the plague's residence.
We made crepes together, as is our tradition.
We ate them with fruit and whipped cream and chocolate pudding.
Plus sparkling juice (from Aldi, of course) and sausage from a local farm.
It's not exactly traditional, but it's our tradition, and I like it. Tasty, a little unconventional, and so little work for me, which means that I get to spend Christmas Day relaxing, not cooking.
_______________________
Moving on from Christmas...my house has fallen into a state of disarray (I handily blame it on the plague.), so I'm gonna try to whip it back into shape this week before school starts again next week.
Any of you want to join me? I'll blog about my progress this week (because organizing/decluttering is way more fun when you get to share your results) and we can cheer each other on.
Or you can just have fun looking at the messes in my house.
The four main things I need to work on are the office (see above), the laundry room, the kitchen, and Sonia/Zoe's room. I'm probably the least inspired about the kitchen (I am positive I'm gonna find some food waste in my fridge what with all the sickness!), so I'm committing to tackle that first. Wish me luck!
I'm so glad your sweet family is starting to feel better! I have cleaned up the bulk of the Christmas mess so there's not much of that left to do, but there are a number of areas in my house that, while they aren't necessarily a mess, aren't really working very efficiently for me. I'd like to reorganize them and I'm sure there will be a lot of stuff that can either be donated or tossed. Looking at your office photo it occurs to me that while everybody's tidy home looks very different, everyone's messes look very much the same. Ever notice that?
So sorry to hear the family was ill over the holidays. Glad to hear they're on the mend though.
Daughter and I came down with the plague on the 26th, and seem to be getting closer to normal. I'm back at work today, but fighting a nasty cough.
Hope everyone continues to get better!
Paul
The cough of this bug we have is terrible. And boy, it just seems to hang on and on. My poor kids (and husband!)
The fact that you called your pot "adorable"...is adorable 🙂 Merry Christmas and Happy (and healthy) New Year!
It is seriously so cute next to my 8 quart pot. I kind of want to kiss it.
Kristen - I'm sorry your family was sick over Christmas. That is no fun. But I really appreciate your honesty in showing the messes. That actually encourages me. Our house went into full-blown chaos over the holidays (just had our last family gathering yesterday) and it gives me courage to know others are tackling the same! Thanks for keeping it real!
I think almost everyone has messes to deal with after the holidays. Or just on a regular basis. Except for super-duper organized people who don't have children. Ha.
I got sick right before the holidays, but was then out of the house for 1.5 weeks FOR the holidays. I managed to do the dishes before I left (by hand!), at least. My house is also in need of some attention - especially after the bounty people bestowed on me. Lots of wonderful stuff need a place, now! I'll be glad for the encouragement. 🙂
Glad you're all feeling better! Luckily (before I return to work on 1/15/15), I'll have had 2 weeks off. Last week was preparations & celebrations with the weekend to just relax. But now I'm going to spend this week getting my house back in order. As much as I love putting the tree up, once the Day is over, I'm ready to get everything back in order. I do leave it up a few extra days because the kids enjoy it, but now I've lugged the boxes upstairs and am ready to take the tree apart. Once it's down and put away, I will put my furniture back in its proper place and do a good dusting on the furniture and mopping on the floor. My living room is pretty small, so I have to rearrange it to get the tree in here. I also have laundry going.
In addition to ^^ my goals before returning to work are to go thru my file cabinets downstairs, purge old paperwork and get the cabinet in order. I (shamefully) have 2 boxes of paperwork 'to be filed' sitting next to the file cabinet. That will be a pretty much all day thing, lol. I also want to go thru my kitchen cabinets and drawers and purge and reorganize them. In addition to regular stuff like cleaning the bathrooms, bedrooms, etc. They aren't in too bad of shape tho. I also brought some work home with me that I wanted to work on. Mainly getting manuals in order (for myself) so it's not something that HAS to be done, just more of a convenience for me. But that is something I can work on while we're watching a movie or something.
Speaking of movies, I had the house to myself yesterday afternoon! Which is super rare in my world. (my husband worked on our car and his golf cart; my 2 girls spent the day and night with a good friend of the families; my oldest son worked all day and my youngest son spent the afternoon at his friends house). So I watched movies all afternoon on Netflix. 🙂 I watched "Unconditional" which was such a great story (based on real life events). I highly recommend it. I also watched "Tiger Eyes" based on the book by Judy Blume. That was one of my favorite books of hers when I was a tween and didn't realize they made it into a movie. Very good also. The New Mexico background was breathtaking! And finally, an oldie. "Breakfast at Tiffany's" My, Audrey Hepburn was stunning! Very cute, very quirky movie. Well besides the annoying fact that EVERYONE smoked and drank. I've made a list of movies off of Netflix that don't seem to offensive and want to work thru those when time allow. I am so tired of the horrible language and blatant sexual innuendo so many movies offer these days. I guess I'm turning into a fuddy-duddy, lol.
An empty house is SUCH a treat when it happens so rarely. It's basically my favorite thing ever just because it hardly ever happens!
The plague hit us this Christmas too. My youngest went down on Christmas Eve, the other four and I quickly followed. My husband was the only one to avoid it (hopefully he will remain strong!). The kids were so sad to miss Christmas dinner with Grandma and not get to see their favorite aunt who had come for a visit from out of town. 🙁 Everyone is just now starting to feel better.
I really enjoy your blog, thanks for sharing your life! Merry Christmas!
We missed all the gatherings too! Gonna try for some makeups once we're all better.
I'm so glad that you are all starting to mend. And though it is no fun to be sick around Christmas, at least you were all able to take the down time needed to get better. Hopefully everyone's immunities are so strong now that the rest of the winter will be illness-free.
So my house isn't the only one that gets a little messy after Christmas? Major picking up around here--soon! This year is worse than usual because we tore our kitchen counters off the day after Christmas. Christmas decorations, boxes, food all jumbled up with the contents of my kitchen cabinets and dust everywhere from sawing and sanding... I can't wait to put it all back together again.
No major illnesses with us outside of a really big headache with my in-laws. I suspect that a couple of screaming brats were to blame for that.
Anyway, our house didn't host and we have a mess as well. We got a bit of it done this weekend but there's still a kitchen and living room to pick up and presents to be all put away so guess what I get to start on when I get home today. 😛
I can't really complain, I suppose. Christmas wasn't bad but it didn't feel much like Christmas. It just seemed to zip by.
My oldest came down with a nasty ear infection (and likely something else that caused both the ear infection and a fever) on Christmas Day. Uggh! I can tell you the day after Christmas, the "sick patient" waiting area at the pediatrician's office was full, so know that you guys were not alone in the Christmas crud category. Even the toddler had some sinus thing going on (which thankfully seems to have resolved itself.)
My whole house is a mess, as well, and I'll be working on it all week. Hopefully I'll be able to make some noticeable progress!
Glad your family is on the mend. I smiled when I read about how your kids are more excited about giving gifts than they are about receiving them. I have found that to be true at my house, as well, and THAT is my Christmas gift! Our two children had a blast this year making gifts for my husband and me (and the cat) as well as for each other. Their creativity is amazing. And I got a chuckle out of my daughter's gift to me--she is 9 years old, quite artsy, and I have no artistic talent at all. She made me a "how to draw" book complete with highlighted lines so I would know the steps for what to draw and when to draw it. Too funny.
I'm joining you on clean-up!
Wish I could share pics in the comments though.
Susie
Yeah, I'm not sure how to make that happen (or if it even is possible!) If you upload them to your facebook, you could certainly feel free to share a link here (just make sure the photos are set to public).
Thanks! I thought that too after I posted this 😀
Also, I forgot to mention that every year I look forward to your Christmas posts :)))
Happy New Year 🙂
I'm so ready for Spring cleaning and decluttering too! Best of luck getting over the illness. I know how long those bugs can stick around.
Yes, I spent the morning cleaning/organizign a corner of my bedroom that had grown so bad i thought it would swallow someone as they walked by it. 🙁 It had started as a giveaway pile that I meant to get a box for & just exploded from there. So glad to have that finished!
I too love the sweet gift giving between siblings.
I hope everyone is back to their normal selves soon! I don't remember if there has ever been a Christmas in our family where everyone was sick, but my two teenagers both have whooping cough. My son started coughing at the end of November, tested positive for it a couple weeks ago and is still sounding terrible. My daughter is only a couple weeks in, so.... about 6-8 weeks left to go of it!
They were vaccinated, but I guess the vaccine wears off, and we are having an outbreak of it in our school district.
So we have had to cancel all our holiday plans with everyone and quarantine ourselves in the house. So it's been a weird Christmas.
Here's to better health in 2015!
Oh, I hear the whooping cough is rough. So very sorry your teens have it!
I think everyone is on the 'CLEAN ALL THE THINGS' train! My house I've managed to stay on top of. If you can believe it, I purged Christmas stuff before I ever decorated. I realized when we were pulling it all down that I had *gulp* 8+ boxes PLUS the tree! My goal was to only decorate with what we LOVED and everything else would go. I believe I will be down to only 3 boxes! Plus the tree. The thought of that makes me so darn happy. I decided to keep going and I am now working my way through the attic. We've been preparing for a move, so I've gone through other areas and purged a lot, but the storage areas are always the most neglected. So, here's to cleaning my attic out (sorry no pics!), and only keeping what I love and USE! P.S. I love your little All Clad pan! Right before the holidays, I managed to snag four of the pans. The fourth probably won't get used much as it is only a 7in., but I am SO pleased with how they work! I've used them a LOT over the last couple of weeks! Do you have any other All Clad products you would recommend? I bought the roasting pan on CLEARANCE for 1/3 it's retail price and I was amazed that I didn't have to rotate my turkey -- it all cooked evenly and golden. Now I want to get some of the pots. I'm not sure what sizes to get since I don't seem to use pots all that often. I know I would like a deep saute pan, but other than that, I'm not sure what I will end up with. So, I've been asking people who enjoy cooking what sizes they use most. Thanks! And Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Yup! The other two I have are listed in this post: https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/the-frugal-girls-favorite-kitchen-equipment/
I love my All-Clad so stinking much.
We were sick on Thanksgiving and the following two weeks. The funk going around is BRUTAL this year! I can't believe how many people it's taking out. The week before school let out there were at least eight students out in each of my boys' classrooms. Glad to hear that your family is on the mend! 🙂
The pantry closet needs to be reorganized to make room for the Belgian waffle maker we got. I'm sure there is a vase or two that could be given away. Also, my office/craft/sewing/extra storage space needs a good purge/organization. The shredder has been working overtime:)
I love the crepes for Christmas dinner. Almost as easy as our Chinese-food-in-a-restaurant annual Christmas dinner. Almost . . . but not quite!
Could you share your recipe/process for making crepes? I have been wanting to make them but never have. Maybe it would be a good New Year's Day tradition for us 🙂
Love your posts, Kristen. Merry Christmas to your family. Second the above idea for a crepe demo/recipe. I know you are a Cooks illustrated fan; my kids love the cooks country recipe for heavenly hots. This is their fave pancake of all. We had them one morning over the holiday. One of my kids loves to man the griddle for these, he is 8. May God bless you all in the new year!