Death has come to the Abshire house again. On Tuesday I came down with a cold. Nothing bad, just annoying. Sydney had it by Thursday, but they cancelled school because of the ice. She did miss Friday because she was up at 2 a.m. with a low-grade fever and coughing like crazy. By 6 a.m., I decided she was staying home and notified the school. By 10 a.m., she was magically healed and tearing through the house like a crazy woman, and I wondered why I'd kept her home. At that point, she would have gotten to school just in time for the party. I'd already arranged for the neighbor to bring her stuff home, so we just called it an early Christmas break for us.

That evening Zack started with it, and Tyler joined him Friday evening. I'm going to have a new definition of sleeping in after this week. Anything past 3:30 is good. Poor Tyler didn't take his turn for the better as I expected, and when the girls and I got back from a Christmas party (a much-needed break for me at that point), I took him to the ER. His temperature had climbed to 102, his cough was worse, and he was pulling at his left ear. The ear infection was easy enough to diagnose. I was relieved to find out that he didn't have the flu, RSV, or pneumonia. Just and nasty upper respiratory infection. After breathing treatments and fever reducers, he was able to sleep for nine hours.

Not me. Zack's cough started bothering him at 3:30 so I gave him his inhaler and held him until he fell asleep on the couch. We managed to sleep for about 45 minutes before he started coughing again. Tansy came down at about 5:15 and started throwing up. Lovely. Zack and I have joined her, but we all already seem to be doing a little better after our puke party and two hour nap. I'm hoping this means we are getting it all out of our systems before Christmas. Too much to hope?

It's not all misery here. I have uploaded to photos of the kids with Santa. This is the most comfortable Sydney has ever been with him. She asked him for a pillow pet, which my mom already got her. Tansy was good until she actually got up to him. She did ask for a pony puzzle (My Little Pony), which Sydney has already gotten for her.

Zack ran right up with outstetched arms when it was his turn. He didn't ask for anything and wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do. He just patiently waited until he got his toy.

Any guesses where I am standing? Tyler was terrified. It was awesome.

My mom brought us a Gingerbread Village Kit when my parents came for Thanksgiving so we used it as our Family Home Evening activity.

We gave Tyler what we thought was a harmless piece of gingerbread to keep him occupied. That kid had to be scrubbed thoroughly afterward.

Ben has this next week off of work, and we are really looking forward to spending some time together and enjoying our Christmas. Merry Christmas to all of you.