is it over yet?

well, let's wrap this december up in true fashion- how about some merry christmas flu? i've had mine thank you very much. i started working nights on the 23rd, got paid the big bucks on the night of the 24th (holiday pay and all), and was supposed to return to work on the night of the 25th. well, return to work i did, but as a patient not a nurse! i woke up in the middle of christmas day with a horrible bout of flu. i kept at it until later that night when i called all of the urgent cares (which are closed on christmas for future reference) and finally had to resort to my own dear ER for treatment. it wasn't cheap. but i was badly dehydrated and needed something to make me stop throwing up. a couple of liters and some meds later, i was gorked out and getting better. the next morning we awoke to find eric's grandmother in the hospital in the town we were all supposed to be meeting up in for a late family christmas in colorado. our christmas trip was canceled, i was still contageous and we didn't know the full story yet with his grandmother. this is certainly not an afterthought of the day after christmas when all this happened, but my grandfather also passed away on this same day. he is finally with jesus and with his beloved bride; my grandparents were some of the most wonderful people on this earth and they are dearly missed.

i am still in bed today trying to fully recover. the bug doesn't want to quite let go yet. eric's grandmother will be alright and is being transported back to a lower elevation in texas. this certainly was not the christmas we were planning for. in fact, it feels like it may not even have happened. so many of the family traditions both eric and i have grown up with went undone this december between my family trip and eric's business trip, work, and then being sick. we tried to do advent together at night when we were together, which is one of my favorite family traditions. but things just really never came together for us this year. we will have to celebrate christmas the whole rest of the year then, which is the way it is supposed to be anyway.

sorry, no new pictures from this fabulous week. i know, you're disappointed. actually we did manage to take a photo of the gigantic icicles hanging off the back of our house. we definitely had a white christmas!