Holiday Madness

The girls, decked out and ready for Christmas Dinner.

Thankfully, we managed to survive the holidays. Barely. After each of us had a our own sinus issue (hangover from our Thanksgiving colds) we thought we were out of the woods. We began our Christmas celebration at my Mom's house. She is an amazing cook who always knocks it out of the park, cooking enough food to feed a small army... with leftovers. And since she works so hard, we thought it would be fun to dine out for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners. On Christmas Eve, my one year old nephew came down with a bout of diarrhea. We thought that he had eaten something that had not agreed with him, because otherwise he was totally normal. So we continued on with our business of unwrapping presents, watching the kids play and snacking. My daughter who is four and my niece who is three decided to have a "sleep over" and share a bed. It was incredibly sweet and fun to watch, as they are best friends and truly love spending time with one another. They were inseparable. Ella even let Maddie borrow one of one of her American Girl dolls and they each took lots of time dressing themselves and the dolls up in matching outfits.

For Christmas dinner, we headed out for Madonna Inn. I grew up in San Luis Obispo and we always would go to their steakhouse, each year for our birthdays. (As a side note, I would always order the lobster which may have contributing to the "filling of my cup" later in life, making it impossible for me to consume shellfish). The girls are at the age where they refuse naps, so by the time dinner rolled around they were both quite tired and somewhat cranky. This is just how if goes some times so we didn't think anything of it. One of the fun things about Madonna Inn is that they have a "Little Girls Only" stall in their bathroom that features a lowered toilet and sink. I took Ella to use the facilities before dinner came. When we were in there, my sister came in, crying out for me. My niece was screaming and they needed help. Maddie had just thrown up all of the restaurant (Merry Christmas, Everyone! Dessert?) Both Maddie and my sister were covered and it just kept on coming. She asked me to send my Mom down for help (bet she was wishing that she was home in the kitchen, after all) and asked if I could also update my brother in law on the situation. Almost at that very moment, our dinner arrived (yeah!) and predictably Milo began to melt down. (This is how it goes with my adorable son. He's two. He hates to sit still. And he almost never eats.) So I decided that the best way to calm him and not further destroy the dinner of those around us was to take him to the car and let him watch a DVD. So that left Ella, my husband, my father and my step mom sitting alone at a table for 12. And then Ella started acting all crazy and running around. Gabe had to chase her and finally gave up, allowing her to climb up on a nearby stage while he threw back a few cold bites of his dinner. When he was done, he traded places with me so that I could eat. It was pretty sad to walk in and see my dad and Natasha sitting at the table alone, drinking a bottle of wine. Ella continued her "dance" on the stage and when she had captured the attention of half of the room ("look at that cute little angel dancing up there") she very gracefully began picking her nose. It was the cherry on top of a ridiculous evening.

But the fun was not close to being over with. A few hours later, Milo began throwing up. And that day we were supposed to head back to LA because someone wanted to see our house that is for sale. Naturally, we had left for vacation in a rush and the home was not even nearly ready to be shown. And the potential buyer was coming for a second time and HAD to see the house with some family members who were visiting from out of town. So we sucked it up, packed up the car and headed south. My brother in law and Gabe both started to get the virus, as well. Thank God, there was no traffic and in less than three hours we were home. And right after arrival, Ella began to get sick. And then she started throwing up, all over the house. And not to be out done, Milo continued his barfing spree. I was washing linens and rugs and towels, all while trying to air the house out and cover every surface with disinfectant. By some miracle, the house had never looked better. We had every single window and door open. Every touchable surface had been cleaned. We loaded up the kids in the car, turned on yet another DVD and headed to our favorite deli to get a very large order of Matzoh ball soup.

By Sunday, the kids were healthy again. Daddy was on the road to recovery and Mommy... well, I was sick to my stomach and unable to get out of bed. Our house was 0-4 and the virus kicked our booties! The good news, it was a fast moving bug. And I was quite happy to say goodbye to 2009!

Happy New Year to all of you! Many wishes for health and happiness!