There and back again

Glad to see that my experiment with the Blogger scheduler worked out. On the other hand, it does remove one more excuse for why I don't update all the time. Ah well.

As to our trip, some things did go sadly "wonky" over Sam and I's Christmas Vacation, but we did make it safely home yesterday afternoon. Some of you may remember I had a bit of a nasty cold in the middle of the month, but after a few days of laying around watching cartoons got to feeling much better. By the time the Christmas Party rolled around, we were both in tip top shape and had a fantastic time hanging out with all of our friends.

The next day (or maybe it was two days) all of us got together again to continue our latest adventure in D&D with the big group, and while we were there my nose was constantly running and I was downing pain killers for the sore throat that was developing. Hip Gamer noticed what I was doing and nonchalantly pointed out that if I had strep he was sorry, as he'd gone to the doctor the previous week and they'd put him on anti-biotics, though they didn't think he'd actually gotten strep. Walking Hyperbole then chimed in and explained he and Adorable Nurse had had horrible sore throats and coughing the previous week.

Oi vey.

The night we went over to Sam's parents for Christmas with them, I was noticing more drainage and coughing, so I tried to keep everyone at arm's length. By the time we left for Kansas the following morning, my voice was crackly and could not hit any of the upper registers. Which made me very sad, as it meant A) No singing Christmas Carols during the car ride and B) I had a raging headache/sore throat while riding in a car. But I could still torment Sam.

After we'd finished all of our Christmas Eve celebrations at my parents' that night, my voice was completely gone and I was utterly out of it. As there was a remote chance it was strep and not just a bad cold, Sam called his sister to see if she wanted us to go ahead and continue on to Kansas City the next day. We both really, really wanted to see our niece and new nephew, but we also did not want to get the new baby (or big sister who loves cuddling with the new baby) sick.

Everybody wanted to see each other, but they finally decided that as much as they love us, they did not want to risk a houseful of sick children. Completely understandable. Instead, the hope is to get up there around the end of January and see them then.

That decision resolved, I went and collapsed into bed.

Am I the only one who thinks McCoy looks like Gollum here?

What followed was a joyfully hazy time of sleep, movies (including ST IV), food, sleep, Nintendo, sleep, card games, pictures, and, oh yes, sleep. It took a few days, but by the time Monday rolled around I had my voice back and was coughing only occasionally, so we went and visited my Grandma Nena  (Hi Grandma!). It was an enjoyable afternoon, filled with good conversations, food, and the final round of Christmas fun.

And yes, I did bring home more recipes from Grandma. Good things will come of us this.

Trust me.

We made it back to my parents' house that night, and concluded our final evening with my parents by watching Sam participate in a long-standing family tradition--he beat Ganon in the original Zelda.

Yesterday morning, Sam and I packed ourselves up in the Jeep and headed on back to Oklahoma. It was a fantastic trip, all things considered, even if I was sick and we didn't make it all the way up to see Sam's sister and her family.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas!