The 12 Days of Christmas

I know it has been forever since I have written. I have tons of updates and stories to tell which I will try to get to soon! I hope you enjoy this one about our crazy Christmas!!!


We all know the song the 12 days of Christmas, right? This song has a whole new meaning to me this year! I absolutely love Christmas. I get into it all, decorations, cooking, presents and parties. The whole season is filled with the preparation of this one day. Our yard usually looks like a scene from the movie Christmas Vacation with a lovely electric bill to match. The kitchen is always filled with the smells of the latest episode from the Food Network's Christmas edition. Presents all wrapped perfectly under the tree. The invitations to our annual Christmas party are done and in the mail, and it is only November 30th. It seems like this year the Grinch himself was trying to do what ever he could to stop Christmas from coming, but could he stop Christmas, you be the judge?

It was about two weeks before Christmas, 12 days to be exact, and everything was going pretty well. Things were a little more busy this year, but this was the first Christmas I was back to work since I had Luke, so needless to say I was a little behind. Our house was not quite ready, but I still had 12 days and we were about to get out for Christmas break, plenty of time. Or so I thought. Instead of getting a partridge in a pear tree I received something a little different, sick kids. This was just not your normal sickness either, that would be to easy. Whatever virus my kids caught must have been delivered from the Grinch. It started with a fever that was relentless.

Twelve days until Christmas; Luke's fever got to 104.7, we decided it was time to go to the doctor. Of coarse our regular doctor was on vacation, most likely paid for by the Grinch. I tried to be proactive and take Will too, because well, it just made sense. The doctor we see, who will go nameless said, it was a virus, but nothing serious and there was nothing he could do. Thanks! To be on the safe side he did blood work and an X-ray on Luke, just to make sure their was no fluid in his lungs. He was taking it a step further than I would have, but I'm not the doctor, so I smile, say ok, and agree to the tests. Results come back clear. If fever persists for more than two days give them a call.

Eleven days until Christmas; last day of school before the holidays both boys now have fever, but they beg to attend their Christmas parties and program that they have been practicing for the last month, and they did get out at 10:30, so it was only a few hours. I let them go, after I load them up on Motrin. They come home and take a huge nap, but still have fever that night.

Ten days until Christmas, and a Saturday, fever still here, and now Will is getting worse. We go back to the doctor, ours is still out and we see the other guy, AGAIN. Still a virus he says, duh, really. What am I paying this guy for? Again, just to be safe he now does blood work and an X-ray on Will. All the tests come back clear, and now I'm thinking; this guy is just racking up a bill. If the fever still persists in two days to give them a call. I ask him at this point for a antibiotic because their little bodies are so weak I don't want them to catch something else, but he does not agree. I also tell him I'm worried about the high fevers. I ask him if their fevers get really high can I give Motrin and Tylenol at the same time? Which is something our regular doctor and nurses have told me is ok, but only for extremely high fevers. He looked at me like I was crazy and told me to never do that again. Again, I smiled, and said ok, he was the doctor after all. I did not give it another thought until midnight, Will's fever is at 105.0 and climbing! I just gave him Motrin 2 hours earlier, and according to the doctor there is nothing else I can give him. I call the phone nurse to see what her advice was, thinking she was going to say give him some Tylenol now and monitor his fever to see if it goes down, and in two hours give him more Motrin, nope. Her advice was take him to the ER, really! I am not one of those moms who takes their kids to the ER lightly. In fact neither one of our kids had ever been. I can't say that anymore. Im not smiling this time, but we listen and take Will to the ER. Guess what they do when we get there? Give Will Motrin! Are you kidding me!?! Then two hours later, Tylenol, does this sound familiar? Oh, yes, it is exactly what I asked the doctor about doing about 12 hours earlier. Instead of doing this in the comfort of our home I had to drag our sick child who now had the fever of 105.2 out in the cold and get my mom to drive to our house to sit with our other son who is still sick in his bed to go to the ER which is full of other germs and sick people and have a nurse do the same thing for me at 3 o'clock in the morning days before Christmas! I can honestly say this will be the most expensive Motrin and Tylenol we will ever buy. They say it just looks like a bad virus and if the fever persists in a few days to call your doctor. On the way home our four year bundle of joy was singing at the top of his lungs, "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas", all my husband and I could do at this point was laugh, and why not! I bet you can guess by now what we were doing a few days later.

Eight days until Christmas, we have already missed one family Christmas party, and still had two boys with high fevers. I call the doctor and of coarse he wants to see the boys. Over my dead body will I ever take them back to the same guy, I take my chances and wait for our regular doctor to be back from vacation, which was in two days. Those two days were spent not preparing for Christmas, but instead we were monitoring fevers, forcing medicine down the throats of our children, and cleaning more than I had ever cleaned in my life. Laundry was literally piled to the top of the door frame, the carpet and beds were stained with every bodily fluid possible, I will spare you the details and I was beginning to think that the Grinch really was going to stop Christmas from coming. At this point we had to cancel our big annual Christmas party.

Six days until Christmas, we go back to the doctor, for the third time, in one week, but this time we see our regular one, thank God. They get us in right away, check out the boys and diagnose them both with their first ear infection of their lives, we get an antibiotic and told they should feel better In a few days. I have heard that before, except this time guess what, they did!

Three days until Christmas, fever not gone all the way, but close. Here comes the mad rush. Since there were NO presents under the tree we started there. Just about all in one day we did all of our Christmas shopping. Then there was the Christmas decorations to contend with. All the decorations came down from the attic and we begin. We still planned to host the family for Christmas dinner so all the cooking and cleaning begins for that too. This part of our story reminded me of the characters in the book Skipping Christmas, or better know to many in the movie Christmas with the Kranks.

One day until Christmas, Christmas Eve to be exact. How did we fare? Well, we were sitting in mass on Christmas Eve, both of our boys fever free for the first time in 12 days and feeling well (however Will was asleep sitting up). We had made it, if the Grinch was trying to stop Christmas from coming he failed, it came, it came just the same! And though our 12 days of Christmas were not as pleasant as the song; the outcome and the true meaning of Christmas was. I guess Will was right; it was a "Holly Jolly Christmas!"

P.S. Now daddy is sick.....