Merry Sickmas

In the past 72 hours either Shelly or myself have been battling a bit of the seasonal illnesses - I didn't feel like my typical self on Christmas Eve and had to shut it down quite early, and Shelly felt much, much worse then me on Boxing Day....  Molly has been hanging in there - not too much has thrown off her routine of some eating, sleeping, washrooming, a bit of screaming, and return....

Nevertheless it has shaped up to a wonderful time of year...  We have seen nearly all of our imediate family, minus Trevor, Tara, and their munchkins, and Shelly's grandmother is in the hospital recovering from just old age and those things that 94 year-olds get.  Other then that anybody who's in the know made an appearance - Far too many names or pictures to mention.  But that really is what is good about this time of year - seeing the family.

On Christmas Eve Shelly, Molly and I had a few appointments.  We started the night over at the Coup's house for a drink, snack and a hello with those fine folks, and the Pottroff/Goddard's were there too.  Then we went over to my dad's for dinner.  His clan, as well as Marsha, Jeff, Loch, and Alden were there too.  We hit the road by 9:00 and illness quickly set in - Not because of the food or drink, but just a sore throat and headache....  Shelly dropped Molly and I off at her parent's house and she went out to her aunt's for some more Christmas cheer. 

On Christmas morning I woke up feeling much better.  Shelly's dad and I chored for an hour and got the livestock settled....  Shelly and I opened a few gifts (nice life-jacket Shelly!... she is easily pleased) and by 11:30 or so her brothers and their families were on the way over.   We all had a huge scoff and opened a few gifts....  By 3:00 the three of us were on the road to the next gala.

We went out to my uncle Larry's for the rest of the day.  At one given time there were something like 30 people out there...  4 of which were very small kids under 2 years old...  Plus there was a 2, 3, and 4 year old as well.  At any rate, it was a great get-together and everyone had lots of different reasons to be happy and joyous this time of year...