A Christmas of a Different Sort

Townshend brought home a nasty stomach bug from school right before the winter break. He actually was out of school for the good part of a week, and despite all our best efforts, he shared it with the rest of us. Amid all the chaos, we ended up going into the doctor's office just to be sure things were ok. She said that our local strain of this "GI bug" was a looooong and nasty one and we'd just have to ride it out and hope for the best. Everybody (except for Hubby - the lucky duck) got a turn or two with this bug and we just couldn't justify traveling and sharing this doozy of a sickness, so we quarantined ourselves and waited it out.

when the kids are well and the parents are sick... you build a fort!

The silver lining in all this excitement was that it came in waves; which, though dragging it out longer, meant that there was always one or two healthy people at a time to help the sickies. Still, it did go long and by the end of the second week we were all feeling the itch of cabin fever. So, we started going out in shifts.

falling asleep in odd places

First, Moon and I were mostly healthy, so we ventured out to the local conservatory for some fresh air with a summer-ish feel.

A day or so later, Moon had relapsed but Towhsend was feeling better. Hubby never got *sick*, but he was very tired and not quite sure that he wouldn't be sick soon. So, Hubby stayed in with Moon and Townshend and I went out to visit the other local conservatory. It was a lovely reprieve.

On the Sunday before Christmas (Christmas Eve-Eve) we were still just a little too sick to go to our normal church meetings. I was bummed about that 'cuz it was supposed to be a musical one with scripture readings and those are my favorite sort. Still, all was not lost. We did a quick search online to see if we couldn't find a neighborhood church that was hosting a Christmas Eve service that we could go visit. And we found one! And it was a candlelight service! And their website said "Everyone was welcome"... so we went! I really enjoyed it. We sang lots of Christmas songs, they had lots of readings and it culminated with Silent Night, by candlelight. It left me feeling really festive and focused on Christ.

putting out stockings on Christmas Eve

The next morning was Christmas! We did presents throughout the day (the kids couldn't stay focused, so we'd do a few, take a break to play and then do a few more). But mostly we played games and hung out at home.

By the next day, we were all feeling good and ready to be out and away from the house. Happily, there was an open gym at the local community center in the morning which we made good use of.

We had a winter hike with some friends on Friday. It was a little chilly and a there were a few flurries. Despite the cold, it was good to be out in the trees. And it was nice to have a good visit with friends while the kids kept each other company.

And that was our Christmas week! Sort of felt like we were making lemonade from some less than awesome situations life had sent us. Instead of chilling on the beach with lots of extended family, we stayed in and mostly just slept. But we got a bit of a stay-cation, got to explore our city a little which is pretty fun too. So, maybe not a traditional holiday but sometimes a Christmas of a different sort can be good too.

Spring Break!

This year is probably the first time, since college, that Spring Break has really registered on my radar. Townshend has been attending preschool this year and they had a week off at the end of March. For the most part, Townshend has been enjoying attending school, but he was excited about having a week off to do "fun things." We weren't planning to go anywhere too far or exotic, but there's plenty in the area to keep us busy for a stay-cation

So, we made a list of things we wanted to do and planned out our week!

We went to the zoo:

Parks were high on the list too, so we tried to get to a couple:

One morning, just for fun,  I coordinated our errands to incorporate some train-watching. It was a good day for it too; on our little jaunt, we saw el trains, Metra commuter trains and also a freight train. All the trains!

And, after a long winter, going for a hike was a treat. It was a bit of a chilly start, but things warmed up as the day drew on. They had newly marked the trails, so we set off on a new path we'd never taken before. However, as it turns out, it was a 3.3 mile long trail, so we didn't finish it out. Still, considering the toddler in tow, we went a respectable distance before turning around:

We visited friends and did normal-week errands and stuff too, but it was extra fun that Townshend is getting big enough to have opinions about what we do and to plan stuff with. It was a good week!