Worst Christmas Ever????

I know it seems like an odd title for a post, but unless you were there you wouldn't believe it. No, there weren't any family feuds or accidents or forgotten gifts, Christmas 2008 was ruined solely one thing - the stomach virus!! But first, let me start back at the beginning. It was going to be such a great Christmas - there was a lot to celebrate. There were 3 babies born in the family this year, everyone was healthy, the seemingly endless remodel at my parents house was done (or at least close), and everyone was going to be together (all 18!). It all started with Elaina on December 20th. We all decided that it must have been something she ate and didn't think twice about it. Then Pete got sick on the 22nd and Claire on the 23rd. Still no cause for alarm. Fast forward to Christmas Eve. Mandy purchased matching pajamas for all 8 grand kids. Here are Andrew and Claire in front of the tree. We spent Christmas Eve with Danny's parents at our house and opened presents. Andrew tore through gifts and got a really cool art easel. Claire got a shopping cart and some fake food.

Then disaster struck in the middle of the night. I got sick and spent quite a lot of time on the bathroom floor. The next morning, we were due at my parent's house to open gifts at 8:30 am. I made it as far as our sofa at 8:00 am and we couldn't contain Andrew much longer, so we gathered up the presents and headed out the door. The picture below is how I spent Christmas Day - super fun!

When we arrived at my parent's house we discovered that 6 other family members had also been sick the night before. Needless to say, opening presents was not very exciting this year. Some people couldn't even make it through the whole thing without taking a "break". Others were sick Christmas night. Danny got sick on the 26th and Andrew got sick on the 29th. In total, 16 of the 18 people got sick. Ryan and Natalie are the only survivors. The good news was that it was a 24 hour bug. It came and took over your body for 24 hours, and then it was gone. We even gave the virus to unsuspecting visitors who stopped by. Christmas dinner was postponed until the 27th, and no matter what else happened, it couldn't ruin Christmas 2008. I'm sure we will all laugh about this some day.

Here is a picture of Claire with one of Andrew's presents.


Andrew with one of the many Star Wars toys.

Needless to say, there aren't many good pictures of Christmas this year. I'll post some more as soon as I get them from my dad's camera.