Update on the sickness!

Did I mention that the game Tuesday night was against the team that beat us last season in the state tournament? In overtime? On a bad call? Ummm…yeah, a big game.

And the bad call complaint? That's not just me griping because we lost…one of the officials actually made the same comment to my husband. It was that ugly.

Apparently Tuesday night wasn't a whole lot better, but dragging himself to practice must have paid off, because after being down by, well, a lot, (in the 4^th quarter, no less), we came back to win by 3. Whew.

I was home getting updates by text, thinking they'd better pull it together and win, or I was going to be really irritated that I'd put myself in that van to breathe those germs to drive him up to practice. (I was sick – I'm sure I can be excused for being slightly unkind in my thoughts! Right? Hmmm.)

Well, so anyway, I now have a happy husband…and he's got a team that's 4-0 (started a tournament today, they won the first game). It's a great start to the season! And not a half-bad way to get ready for Christmas!

(Now if my concert next week can go half as well, I will be oh-so-grateful!)

This is how we do “sick” around here…

One of those lovely bugs floating around out there has hit this house. My husband usually gets something at some point during the basketball season, but it's usually much later in the season. I'm always harping on him to get more rest, so he doesn't get hit with these things. I don't think I can blame this one on him over-doing it - it's too early in the season. Although don't imagine that he let it slow him down much!

My much-too-stubborn husband woke up sick yesterday morning, but refuses to let "sick" mean "rest." He did rest – some – he didn't have a whole lot of choice. But one of the biggest games of the season is tonight, and yesterday's practice was too important to miss. So I somehow let him talk me into driving him to the school so he could run part of practice. Are you wondering how in the world he could run a practice when he's too sick to even drive? Yeah, I thought the same, but he managed. Even managed to find some energy and temper when they weren't getting the point he was making. And then he came home and crashed, of course.

As a side note, it was really interesting to watch practice. I would enjoy it more if I weren't worried about him racing out and puking! I'll have to go back sometime, I think.

Today was all about resting up so he'd be able to go coach the game tonight. Can't let a little virus keep him away from basketball.

I'd be tempted to give him a hard time except for the fact that I got hit with the same bug last night. I've spent the whole day in bed, until T1 got off the bus (Grandma took the girls to her house today so we wouldn't have to worry about them…thank you thank you!!). All I really want to do right now is crawl back into bed…this is one miserable, achy feeling. But unless I get sick overnight again, I'll be at school tomorrow. We have a concert next Tuesday, and I can't afford to miss another day.

Hmmm….don't guess I sound too different from him, do I?

Busy?

I'm discovering that in the midst of the holiday rush (and I'm including Thanksgiving in that) it's a lot harder to stay in routines. It's harder to get anything done. And it's a lot harder to find time for writing and blogging. It's not that I don't have stories to tell…boy do I have stories to tell…but I keep finding other things to steal my attention. And that's not always a bad thing. It sometimes means that I've decided to sit and snuggle my girls while we watch the boys play Xbox. (Or it means that they've decided that I'm going to snuggle them…either way!) Sometimes it means that I'm cooking or shopping or decorating (we spent a full week with a tree up but only half covered in lights!). Sometimes it means that I've decided that all I need in the world is an extra hour of sleep. Sometimes it just means that I can't find it in me to concentrate on telling a story, even if it's funny.

I am determined this year to find time to enjoy the holidays. To appreciate the together-ness and the meaning of Christmas. It's easy with little kids to get the joy of Christmas – it's a lot harder to remember the why of Christmas. Throw in a few (hundred) basketball games and practices, and a choir concert or two, and it's more like a mad-dash into The Day, without any moments to just BE.

The past several years, at least in my memory, have been sheer chaos. Gifts bought at the last minute, because we put things off and couldn't make up our minds. Advent calendars opened once or twice a week, several days at a time because we didn't remember to do them every night. Marathon wrapping sessions on Christmas Eve, which seems like a complete waste of time (I mean, really, they're going to open them in a couple hours, can't I just cover them with a sheet?!?) All leading up to a general collapse the day after Christmas because we're all worn out from the running around. Oh, but there's no time for a collapse, because there's still family in town to spend time with and games to be played, and basketball to be practiced…maybe next year we'll do better.

So this is "next year," and I'm trying to do better. I've got my chart of who to buy for, and what we've bought. I've wrapped a few presents. I've decorated a little at a time (and I'm not done yet). We're still missing nights on the advent calendar, and doing double chocolates to make up on other nights, but the kids aren't exactly complaining about that! I've found an Advent devotional I'm enjoying that I'm trying to do at breakfast each day. (Maybe next year I'll add it to the Advent time with my kids.)

It's my hope that we will hit the first day of Christmas break (9 days of school left!!) with next-to-nothing left to do besides enjoy each other. Maybe we'll have time to drive around and look at Christmas lights. Maybe we'll have time to be together without needing to spend it shopping! Maybe I'll manage to communicate to my kids the deeper meaning of Christmas.

And maybe – every once in a while – I'll be able to blog about it.