Merry (Day After) Christmas!

Christmas Eve was lovely.  I had the day off, spent it cooking and baking in preparation for the evening and Christmas Day.  We went to a family party at my BFF's house.  It's our tradition.  She and I have been friends for 25 years so they are like family to me.  After we came home, we left out treats for Santa and the reindeer.  Bianca saw on Max & Ruby 2 years ago that chocolate milk is Santa's favorite so we have to leave it for him.  :o)

I put a very excited little girl to bed and proceeded to complete Santa duty, filling the stockings and placing presents under the tree.  Disposed of the goodies, left her a letter from Santa.  Went to bed.  Woke up with a heinous migraine, my first in over a year, which resulted in vomiting until it passed.  Lovely.  I *thought* that was the end of the story.

Despite her horror over Elf on the Shelf, Bianca was very upset that he was leaving on Christmas Eve.  Frankly, I was relieved because that little dude is seriously creepy.  So to ease her angst, I Santa brought her a cuddly elf that she can keep all year.  It was on top of her stocking with the Santa letter and she was thrilled!!

My Mom came over and we opened gifts, had breakfast.  Bianca's ADD makes opening gifts an overwhelming experience for her.  She has to take frequent breaks and put aside several presents that she didn't open til about 7pm.  I tried to keep it smaller this year.  While I did succeed in having a smaller Christmas, that does not necessarily translate to a small Christmas.  Evidence:

Right about this time, around 1:00, I felt like a truck hit me.  I got chills, 101 fever and lost all my energy.  My last gift was....the flu.  Very not cool, Santa.  Nevermind eating dinner, I could not even cook it for my Mom and Bianca.  Fortunately, I'd made a big breakfast and prepared a couple side dishes (and the most important course....DESSERT!) the day before so at least they had something to eat while I threw up some more and whimpered like a sissy in the corner.  I am fortunate that I had a period of wellness between the migraine and the flu so we could enjoy the morning.  Ten hours of sleep, lots of tea and chicken broth later, I'm starting to feel better.  We're in the midst of a huge blizzard and I cannot imagine better timing for it.  I had already taken tomorrow off from work and am hoping for full recovery so that snowman making can commence!

I hope everyone else had a great (and healthy) holiday!!