Christmas Break... or Bust

Oh, Christmas Break. The prospect of having Lucy out of school for 18 wonderful days had me thinking up all kinds of activities to make memories, celebrate the season, and avoid hearing the words, "Mom, I'm bored."

To be fair, she rarely ever says that, but I wanted to make this a super special time for all three of our kids, so I came up with some grand ideas for making Lucy's Christmas break extra special and memorable this year: outings and museums and bounce houses, baking and shopping and lots of time with friends. There are so many fun and festive (and free) things to do this time of year, and I planned for us to do it all!

Or maybe just most of it.

Enter the stomach virus.

First it took Adam down on Thursday night. Then Josiah on Saturday. John was next on Sunday, followed closely (albeit less severely) by yours truly on Monday. We thought Lucy made it through unscathed, but last night proved us wrong.

Pardon my soapbox here, but my good friends know that I don't mess with a stomach bug. I know that the virus is strong and stubborn and can live on inanimate objects (think faucet handles, remote controls, and action figures) for up to two weeks. Yes, TWO WEEKS. And before making contact with other human beings, one should be free of ANY symptoms (including the follow-up fever) for AT LEAST 24 hours. So we are on Day Seven of our self-imposed seclusion, only appearing in public in the fresh air of the great outdoors.

You can thank me later.

And so this morning I was reflecting on what I believed to be a total bust of a break.

No museums. No playdates. No hosting friends. Baking has been less than appealing. And the thought of a bounce house was positively nauseating. Josiah even missed out on singing "Away in a Manger" with his Sunday School class in front of our church.

But I have to tell you that not once have I heard complaints of boredom. The kids have been playing well together, agreeing on what movies to watch (and there have been many), keeping busy with making crafts and Christmas presents for our extended family, and spending lots of time reading and asking to be read to. And I often hear the countdown to the day after Christmas when we will get to see Grandma and Grandpa in Indiana. Love that.

We've also been able to have some Christmas fun in between episodes of illness, too.

Before this all started, Lucy and I got all dressed up and had a girls' night out last week to see The Nutcracker (her first time).

And we took a horse-drawn-carriage ride down our hometown's Main Street, all lit up with Christmas lights.

We bundled up to take a walk through some special lights displays in the falling snow...

...and even got to pet a couple of real reindeer! (Their tags said "Dasher" and "Dancer" -- the only red noses were our own.)
And today, as the snow continues to fall (12 inches and counting!), we can look forward to what we know will indeed be a very White Christmas.

But whether or not we are healthy or sick, whether our Christmas Day is white or brown, we still have so many reasons in this season of celebrating the birth of our Savior and King to rejoice and be thankful.

(Not the least of which are Clorox and Lysol.)

And we've gotten to spend LOTS of time together.