The very next day after we returned from our driving trip to west Texas was Thanksgiving. We invited the McKee-Starling clan over for a laid back dinner. Sean had bought as much as we thought we could of the dinner items before we left for our trip, and he made a quick trip to get the last few items Wednesday night after driving all day from Fort Davis.

Ian made sure he got to sit by Ruby

The kids played and Sean kept an eye on them while I basically cooked all day on Thursday. It was kind of relaxing. The Woodses and the McKee-Starlings have been friends for a very long time, and we all have younger kids, and neither of us, intentionally or otherwise, place any pressure on the other. Holly had even told me earlier – if the choice is potatoes or a nap, take the nap.

The menu worked out pretty well. Holly brought chocolate-pecan pie, purple sweet potato casserole, and a really delicious tray full of pickled items. We had turkey pastrami, turkey leg confit, Sean’s mom’s cornbread dressing, gravy, creamed Brussels sprouts, green bean and fennel salad, melting potatoes, and a holiday cocktail called Lindsey’s Lament (which was great).

We have a slight improvement on Lindsey’s Lament to report. Here are the new directions, according to Sean and Chris: 1. mix cocktail, 2. give a crisp high five to Ruby (because she’s awesome, obviously), 3. accidentally knock entire cocktail into the decimated contents of the pickle tray, 4. insist that the now salty, pickle juicy liquid be dumped back in the cocktail glass, 5. pass around for tasting because holy crap, it was incredible.

I love it because Maui and Elsa look like they’re ready to do battle in the Christmas tree.

The next day, we went out and procured our Christmas tree. Ian had fun running around the tree lot, hiding. We tried letting Maya choose the tree, but I think she would have gone home with one of the 12-footers, so we had to reel her in.

Saturday was kind of our big deal event. We took the kids up to Cedar Park to ride a train, which is something Maya had been asking to do. But this wasn’t just any train – it was the North Pole Flyer. We were on the train for two hours, but it hardly felt like it. We were given hot cocoa. Mrs Claus came by and offered cookies. Elves visited for caroling and balloon twisting. Even Santa came by to hear the kids’ wishes, offer them a small gift (their very own train whistle), and sit for photos.

Maya and her dimple (and her dad)

Partway through the train ride, we were told that there was an open window between two compartments if the kids wanted to poke their heads out and feel the breeze. Now, I feel like I was warned against this sort of thing over and over again during my childhood, but I let it go, and both the kids had a great deal of fun, looking out the window and grabbing a big face full of breeze.

Ian LOVES to cook

The next event in our action packed November/December was Sean’s birthday. Since his birthday fell on a Monday, the kids and I baked his cake the Saturday before. Sunday after lunch, we sang happy birthday and cut into it. It was a day early, but why not?? It’s a good thing we did, too because shortly thereafter, things took a turn.

We were scheduled for haircuts Sunday afternoon. The kids had fun romping around and playing on some chairs shaped like giant hands beforehand. They were chatty and affable when we went in to see the lady who cuts our hair. And then suddenly, Ian was upset. He didn’t feel good, his clothes bothered him, he just wanted to be held. It was so sudden and so intense, we decided to forego the visit to Santa we had planned for after our haircuts.

Little dude was sick and wanted nothing more than to snuggle

Ian was sad all the way home, and Sean had barely gotten him to our front door, when the poor kid vomited. We were one wrong choice away from barfing on Santa Claus. Sean stayed home with Ian on Monday, and thus spent his actual birthday napping on the couch with his sick son. While we hoped it was just a 24-hour thing, Ian wound up not going back to school till Friday. For him, the vomiting stopped pretty quickly, but he had some horrible gut pain that kept him from eating much or even doing much. Five days he was down with his intestinal virus.

So many, many things to discuss with Santa.

Thursday night, we worked in our visit to Santa. The kids were elated, of course. Ian told him he wanted a jack-in-the-box shaped like an octopus. Maya gathered intel on Santa’s cookie preferences and let him know that her Oddipuddy was falling apart and that she’d really like to have a new stripy octopus.

Ian’s winter recital was on Friday, his first day back to school after The Virus. You could tell he didn’t have much energy though. He sang all the songs and more or less did all the hand motions, but he spent most of the program sitting on the floor with the younger kids.

Ian and I dancing during his preschool program.

He and Maya had their solo instrument recitals on Saturday afternoon. Ian seemed like he was feeling quite a bit better by then, but Maya’s behavior was … difficult. Still, both she and Ian played their pieces beautifully. Maya played London Bridge with two hands and Ian played one of his introductory Twinkle rhythms.

Everybody went back to school on Monday and Tuesday, but when I picked Maya up from school, she was sitting on a bench complaining of stomach upset. She vomited in the car on the way to Ian’s swim class. I went ahead and took Ian to his class, but Maya spent that 30 minutes laying on my lap and avoiding contact with other people.

Maya’s intestinal virus was horrible. Unlike Ian, she vomited nearly every day. She’d feel good for a while, we’d think she was better, then the tummy pain would return and blammo! more barf. She was vomit free for a full day before Ian’s birthday party, so we let her celebrate with him. That afternoon, she felt worse than ever. It went on and on like that. When the dust settled, she had been sick for I think eleven days. She missed seven days of school. She lost about 10% of her body weight.

She just looks worn out decorating those cookies.

The worst part though was that Maya had a hard time enjoying the things we did. We painted and decorated ornaments to give to grandparents and Anna. We baked and decorated cookies for Santa. We hunted every morning for Trinket, our damned Elf on the Shelf. She told me one day that her face hadn’t been happy in a really long time, and she was right. Maya is a joyful child, and she absolutely loves Christmas. But the constant tummy pain and difficulty holding food down for such a long time had kind of defeated her.

Luckily, nostalgia works for kids even better than for grown-ups it seems. When you talk to her about it now, she seems to be filled with fond memories of the fun things we did and the neat gifts she has received. I feel like we had been kind of keeping up and holding our own through most of our holiday and birthday crazy, but The Virus just about defeated me too, even though I never managed to really get sick. It’s hard to watch your kids suffer, while you stand there powerless, offering sips of water and a bucket to barf in. Arranging childcare for sick kids right around the holidays was a bit of a dance too, and the kids always wanted me to help them instead of their babysitter. It was a very long few weeks.

Lucky Santa

Here are some of the things that I’m thankful for through all of that. We managed to get the kids to all their recitals and Christmas programs. Ian and to some extent Maya were able to enjoy Ian’s birthday party. I was on call for jury duty through November and December and was never selected to appear in court. Everyone was well by the time we boarded our flight for the holiday family visit. Things were bad, sure, but they could have been worse.