christmas vacation 02

In what seems to be the continuation of a pattern, I'm sick on my trip home. I noted that I had a sore throat and chills Thursday morning when I drove down here; the sore throat and chills have continued, to be joined by sneezing, coughing and a mild fever. Additionally, though unrelated, my acid reflux came back with a vengeance last night, and I slept fitfully at my sister's house, and the burning has continued off and on all day.

Otherwise, though, the day went reasonably well, though it's so noticeable that our numbers are dwindling, with my father's death last year, my grandfather's this year, and my grandmother's confinement to her room--not that she's present in anything but very weak body. My nephews had a few fights, but nothing out of the ordinary, and my sister and I didn't argue once; I think feeling sick all day has taken a lot of the fight out of me, and I just let a lot of comments wash over me to which I might otherwise have responded.

The day dawned as a whitish Christmas--there was a very heavy frost last night (it's been quite cold here; 60 degrees in Arlington when I left Thursday noon, the temperature had falled into the low thirties by the time I reached Covington that evening, and has lingered in the teens since) that remained on the ground well into the morning.

My mother loved the orchids I'd sent that arrived yesterday, and was very excited over her main present: I've offered to take her to New York sometime this spring, where we'll see some musicals, have some good food, and do some shopping and sightseeing.

I received some nice gifts, including two books from my Amazon.com wishlist, the hardbound version of Neil Gaiman's 1602 for Marvel, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book). My mom gave us a nice set of wine accessories, and a cool infusing tea pot (coincidentally, Jeff and I recently had begun drinking tea most evenings, something my mom didn't know, so this will come very much in handy), among a number of other gifts.

Now I'm back at Mom's house, sitting in my sleep bottoms and sweatshirt, thinking about lying on the couch and reading (I've already finished the 1602 graphic novel earlier today, and have started in on America (The Book), and then going to bed relatively early. With luck, I'll shake off this cold by tomorrow.