Right after Thanksgiving the big shopping season started and family was making plans to come for Christmas. We haven't had a family Christmas at our house in 11years, so there was a lot of planing and gifts to get ready. Both of our daughters with our four grand kids ages 4 to 20 would be celebrating the holidays together for a full 10 days. We were so excited that they were coming, but I was thinking this is not a very good time.
I had lost my job in September and had not been able to find other employment, so we were living off our savings. It doesn't take long to put a strain on the bank account when there isn't any income for 5 months.We still had a lot of gifts to buy and meals to plan for each day. I was out almost every day filling out applications either in person or online just trying to find some part time work. It seemed that employers were looking to hire , but I was not getting any return messages or interviews. As frustrating as that was we were able to get most things done and ready for company.
Saturday morning came and our daughter called to say her 4year old was vomiting and running a fever. They had packed the night before and was already to leave for their 350 mile trip to see us. We encouraged her to come anyway and if she needed to go to the doctor, she could do it here. Six hours later they were here and the excitement was running high. We helped unpack the truck while listening to our granddaughters ( 4yrs. & 7yrs. ) tell about their trip,and wanting to be picked up and played with.
It had snowed about 4" two days before and was a good moist snow for building a snowman or sledding. One of the last things to get unloaded was their plastic sleds.They said there was no snow on the way until about 50 miles from here, so the closer they got, the more excited they were to go sledding.. We live in a bowl surrounded by mountains, and it snowed 1/2" every night for the first week they were here. No more than about 100yards from our house is a big steep hill that a lot of the kids come and go sledding on, so you can guess how my afternoons went. Most of the time it was with our 7 yr old ,but the 4 yr old did get to go out once and had a blast.
Christmas evening was filled with a Christmas service and carols, then soup and sandwiches! After dinner it was time to open some of the presents. Each person was given one gift and then they opened them one at a time. After a couple of hours it was time to put milk and cookies out for Santa, and then off to bed. Waking up in the morning, it was no surprise to discover Santa had stopped by and brought more presents.
Christmas day was full of snacks, food, and more snacks. The kids were playing with their new toys and reading in the books Santa had brought to them. All of our grand kids love to read. Mainly because mom and dad have read to them since they were one day old. Our 4 year old granddaughter is in preschool and can read out loud 3rd grade reading books! She amazes me how fast she processes words and sentences.
The next day every one wanted to go shopping at the mall to spend their gift cards and get a little walking exercise in. While the grownups were in the shops looking at clothes I took the girls to the Pretzel shop and Orange Julius for a little snack break. We had fun just sitting and watching the people go bye.
Back home I had put some cut onions around the house to absorb the germs and bacteria. I wanted to try a home remedy I had read about for curing colds and flu germs. We were all starting to get the sniffles and coughs and I didn't want it to get any worse. There was only a couple of days left before everyone was going home so it was a last minute effort to kill all the germ bugs.
Our company is all gone and it's 2 days until a new year. We cleaned up the house and thru away the onions, confident the germs were all gone. On new years eve day both of us had running noses and coughs, then by 11:pm we couldn't stay awake any longer and went to bed. We woke up in the morning sweating with a head and body aches. The onion cure did not work! We both had a full blown case of the flu. We are starting the new year out with the flu and hoping for good health for the rest of the year.
NOW TO GET BACK TO JOB HUNTING.
Earl
