Santa Got Run Over by a...................Cold!!!!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Yesterday, I picked my mom up from the airport and she is back to spend the holidays with us.  Last week, I came down with some kind of head cold and I am still battling this bug this week.  My daughter and son-in-law arrive on Friday and I do not have time to be sick.  I have been talking to a couple of my female friends and it seems I am not alone when I say I think Santa is really a tired, overworked at the Holidays, superwoman.  I may be oversimplifying, but I think it is the women of the world who, for the most part, make the Holidays happen at their house.  My one friend makes the most wonderful nuts and makes batch after batch for days to give away to family, friends, and co-workers, for Christmas. On top of that, she works long hours at her job and she told me yesterday that her husband said to her that she needs to relax more at the Holidays and all she said back was, “Are you for real?”  Personally, I thought he was pretty daring to tell an exhausted woman cooking nuts to take it easy. 

 

I would love to curl up in bed with my box of Kleenex the entire week before my company arrives, and count how many times I can blow my nose in one hour, but I don’t have time and there are no Merry Maids at our house beating the door down to help.  In fact, there just seems to be one not so Merry Maid, coughing and hacking and contemplating packing her nose with Tampons to avoid having to blow it one more time as she goes about getting everything done. The problem with that idea is in my harried, sick state I could wind up at the grocery store, completely forgetting how I solved the problem of a dripping nose and have the check-out lady say to me, “ma’am, you might want to read the directions on the box next time because I don’t think you are using those correctly.” I really don’t know how I would explain the situation other than to say I probably saw it on an old episode of MacGyver.

 

So, while waiting for my mom’s plane to arrive, I took the dogs to their grooming appointment and came home to vacuum one last time and throw in another load of laundry and was thinking everything was running pretty smoothly when the first hiccup happened. I made the mistake of answering the phone and there my mom was letting me know her plane was delayed due to fog. My mom is a firm believer in the old adage, “if mama isn’t happy, she is going to share it with you,” and her cheery voice told me this was one of those times.  While we were talking, I could hear an announcement overhead and I asked her what was being said and she answered back, “I have no idea what they are talking about, “ only to have some nice passenger tell her they said they were boarding. 

 

She hung up rather quickly and probably didn’t hear me tell her I appreciated having to run up from the basement to answer the phone only to hear from her that her plane had been delayed by a matter of minutes and as soon as she landed, I would try and have Diane Sawyer there for the interview. That wasn’t the end of her calls and I got another one after she landed in PA that there was no wheelchair waiting for her and she had no idea what to do. I could see me now trying to get through the security check point and trying to explain to the officer that I don’t have time to empty my pockets of all my cold medicine paraphernalia because there is an impatient woman with a cell phone and my number waiting at the terminal gate for a wheelchair. I really was expecting at any moment to hear an 85 year old woman on the overhead speaker yelling, “ Laurie, where is my damn wheelchair?”  Instead, by the time I gathered my thoughts, she told me the wheelchair had arrived and she was on her way. Another crisis averted, and when she got in the car the first thing she said was, “I told myself to come out with a smile on my face, “ and all I said was, “when did you decide to go with plan B?”

 

What does all this mean?  I think my point is that Santa doesn’t get sick days. There is never a good time to get sick, but Holidays are the worst. People still need picked up from the airport, company still comes, dinners need to be cooked, gifts purchased and wrapped, Holiday programs and pageants attended, and unfortunately, there are no do overs.  Being sick, I have let a couple of things slide and was very thankful on Sunday when my husband took the dogs for their daily walk and let me sleep. I tried to get up and go with him, but he took one look at me and said, “will your hair be sticking up like that on our walk?” and when I shook my head “yes” he opted to go solo.  Tomorrow morning, I get to see my daughter for the second time in one year and I don’t care if my nose is still dripping and my eyes are still weeping and she yells out, "Rudolph!" when she first lays eyes on me,  there is going to be a big smile plastered all over my face all day.  Yep, I am feeling better already and it is nice to have my family home. I wish for each one of you a happy and healthy Holiday and to be surrounded by those you hold dear, either two legged or four, and to Jennifer, who makes my cold seem like small potatoes, to get home to her Jack for Christmas.

P.S. Well, it is twelve hours later here and my mom woke up with the flu! My daughter missed her connecting flight by 10 minutes because her plane was delayed, as did 9 other passengers, and had to wait until morning to get out of Portland. She won't be here until dinner time. I hope they don't turn around and go home when they get here and see some of the occupants of this house :) Meanwhile, my husband just gave me an early Christmas present when he came home from work early to take care of my mom, me, and two dogs that are wondering why no one wants to play with them. No wonder Santa has so many helpers. Every now and then, he needs a little help!!

 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thank you, Kahlua!!

Thanks, Jennifer. Everyone is better!!

Thanks, Bryce!

[KAHLUA]

LOVE YOUR STORIES!!!!!  KEEP IT UP IN 2012!!!!!

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Hope you are feeling better now. If it makes you feel better, you are not alone. So many people I talk to are either sick or were sick on Christmas! You are right though, Jennifer is a rocka nd we should be able to handle getting sick, bad timing that's all. Glad you could make it through. Great airport story by the way, we had a similar delay from a Michigan relative. Hope you are better to ring in the new year!!

[Bryce P]

You always have intresting and time consuming blogs.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Lisa, I want to go to I Bought a Zoo as our Christmas movie too, but our SIL doesn't want to see it. I might have to threaten him :) When I am on a schedule and have a lot to do, I would be a basket case if someone stopped by and stayed that long. Sounds like you handled the situation in a very diplomatic way.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

My DH cracked up when I read him excerpts...(of course I can't share it all).

Today we opted to NOT go to the movies with DD and SIL because I had so much to do and didn't want to stress but just get it done in a leisurely pace....(did I just say leisurely?) and that was hard for me not to go, I love doing things like that with them. Well I got a text from a friend who wanted to just stop by for a few minutes with a little something for us. She brought her DH, and her 2 dogs...well they ended up staying over 2 hours, I thought I was going to die. How the heck do you get out of that one. Neither DH nor I had eaten a thing yet. When DH started forgetting the words he was supposed to use, like picture instead of camera,  I finally said "Oh my look what time it is, honey have you even eaten yet?" Well it worked and off they went, finally.

Not that I am ungrateful, they are good friends but come on people! ha ha

Oh well, it's all done now but I did get a text from DD saying I missed a great move hmpf! (They saw that Bought a Zoo movie).

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thank you, Christine!!

Jane, Thank you! I did go to the doctor and feel so much better today and so does my mom. My DD and SIL arrived tired, but safe. Have a Merry Christmas!!

Deanna, Thank you! We are both feeling better...knock on wood! My mom even wanted Christmas cookies tonight, but her mean daughter said no, not until tomorrow. Have a great Holiday!

Thank you, Elizabeth!

Sherri, I sure did not feel like superwoman this week :) Have a very Merry Christmas and give everyone a hug!

Thank you so much for the nice comments, Lucy and Sophie's Mom! Luckily, we live in the boondocks and have a small post office. It actually closes for one hour at lunch and there is never a line. A line out the door sounds worse than Target the day after Thanksgiving. I am glad you are feeling better! This is the first year I have actually thought about doing less next year and my DH is all for that idea. The good thing is once everyone gets here, I do stop worrying about the clean house, etc. and try and go with the flow.

Lisa, I cracked up all through your comment. I know you know how excited I am to have my daughter home. Have a wonderful Holiday!!

Thank you, Julie!!

[Christine & Shelby]

Hope you get to feeling better soon - maybe it will be your Christmas Miracle!!!

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Oh Laurie - please get well soon!  I so feel your pain - I've sick on and off since Thanksgiving.  :(   Super bad cold for two weeks better for a week and then bam - brochitis so bad that I coughed till my eyes balls were bugging out of my head.  I'm on good drugs now (gotta love that cough syrup with codeine!) so if you aren't better soon - get to the doctor.  But yes, in the meantime - we somehow manage to pull the holiday together.  Hope your daughter arrives soon and healthy!!!!

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Sick at Christmas?  I feel your pain.  For the 25 years I taught, I literally willed my body to not get sick on school days - writing lesson plans detailed enough for a sub to follow was way too much trouble (not to mention having to pick up the pieces in my classroom when I returned).  So, inevitably, I'd be sick either Thanksgiving or Christmas and sometimes both!  No fun at all!!

Anyhow, sorry you and your mom are sick.  Hopefully today is your rebound day and you'll both be in fine form by tomorrow.  Enjoy having your family with you...