Holiday in Review

Oh Boxing Day.  In our house this is the day to stay in PJ's.  Graze freely from the fridge and to process the turkey carcass.  This year isn't all that different except we have the plague in our house.  My eldest son was sick the Monday before Christmas, silly me, I assumed that the virus had passed and we'd be germ free for Christmas.  Nope.  Proved very wrong.  We were on our way to having a very pleasant, albeit, subdued holiday when in our Christmas best at Christmas Eve mass, our eldest son was once again stricken with the "hum bug".

The church was standing room only.  We arrived shortly after 4:15 for the 5 pm mass and found the church already at 80% capacity.  We did score sweet seats a few rows from the front so that the kids could see the goings-on.  The church filled in immediately after we sat down and Father Charles started the mass early because there was no sense in waiting since not a single soul more could fit under this church's rafters.

Just as the first reading was finished E looked up to my husband and said "oh no..." and gagged.  Snatched out of the pew and climbing over my MIL my husband flew to the back of the church and cut through the crowd at the back of the church just in time to get him secured in the bathroom.  Ten minutes later, we were all leaving church early to get E home and to the safety of the couch.

The only thing we could do was to proceed with our evening.  Though at this point we were somewhat less buoyed   This is a sad Christmas for our family.  My husband and his mother are in a lot of pain.  The loss of my father-in-law is being keenly felt this year.  Even the excitement of the one remaining child at the table wasn't enough to keep the mood light.  Still when you consider it, subdued is still far better than bleak and and still better than none. We did have the occasion to share some stories about past Christmases with my father-in-law that brought us all a smile and some laughter.

The Christmas rites still adhered to, as was right.  We went to bed only to be up a lot during the night with our sick little dude.  Christmas morning found us tired but still very happy that Santa had come.  Good thing he brought some video games.  E had no more energy than to lay on his side, on the couch, for the lion share of the day.  My youngest came out of his room wearing his fireman hat and jacket all set to open gifts and that was exactly what he did.  I had to share the picture with my friends.  I was so sure he was in costume and set to put out the next pair of oven mitts that I managed to set on fire.  The last pair were ignited when my gloved hand touched the top element of the oven when pulling out my duchess potatoes on Thanksgiving, giving a rather dramatic air to our holiday meal.

A mostly lazy day found the healthy of us having breakfast and occupied in play.  I got to wrestle my turkey from the 32 quart water canner which I used as my brining vessel.  I love that it's usually so cold in Ontario that it can be placed on the deck for ease of access,  instead of taking up room in the fridge or having to navigate the garage.  The bird once roasted was glorious and way too big for our needs since only two of us were eating and even still when the two had now seriously impaired appetites due to the spread of the kid cooties.

Today is a day of more industry.  The process of making turkey stock and soup has started.  Later, if there is time I will drag out my pressure canner and put up some litres of stock and some pints of turkey soup.  Knitting is my biggest time filler.  I am determined to get this project finished.  I'll have to search the house but I'm sure that I only have three more skeins of this wool and that will mark the completion.

This week is dedicated largely to a few small projects that I never really had time for.  The rest will be spent horsing around with my dudes.  I hope that the plague lifts quickly.  Still no snow.  This is a big disappointment for me.  I was really looking forward to spending some time on the toboggan and on the trails in my snowshoes.

The holiday winding down here.  It wasn't an A+ holiday but it is unrealistic to think every year will be a Norman Rockwell scene.  I reminded my husband that in time we'd sit back over another holiday meal and see this year's holiday with some humour.  We'd laugh about the "hum bug".  We'd chuckle at the picture of L in his fireman costume. The big brown marks the dogs Christmas chewy bones made.   We'd remember where we'd come from, what we went through, and that we'd gotten through it as a team.  That is what the comfort of family brings.  Shared history.