You get the flu! And YOU get the flu! EVERYBODY GETS THE FLU! What more could anyone wish for than the flu for Christmas, right?!

Okay, fine, not everyone got the flu. Let me back up a bit.

The holiday break started out very lovely at home, with our tree and our little decorations and some cozy time with the pets. We had a couple of days to enjoy it (in the midst of trip preparation) before we headed up on the long, long drive to Iowa to visit for the holiday. It should be about a 15-hour drive from our town to my in-law’s house, but something always happens. This year, on the way up, we hit an ice storm after crossing the Mississippi River into Iowa, and basically slowly slid down the roads until we finally made it up the driveway.

The first two days were spent at the Battle of Waterloo, a big high-school wrestling tournament, cheering for CW’s brother and the rest of his team. There were some pretty exciting match-ups, and I remembered how fun it can be to watch live wrestling.

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We think it was the tournament arena, unfortunately, where the flu germs were busily circulating. CW came down with his symptoms just a day or so afterward, and we heard of a few other friends who were also at the tournament who caught the same strain of the flu. Luckily, no one else in our household wound up getting sick (thanks to the flu shot, we assume), but poor CW got hit hard.

Merry Christmas! You get the flu!

The rest of the break for him was spent being ill and then resting and trying to heal, and therefore was pretty quiet for the rest of us as well. I managed to get plenty of reading time in; I slept late every day; we all ate some great meals at home and generally enjoyed the coziness inside and the pretty, frosty, wintry weather outside.

Last night we got back home after another too-long car trip (this time we can blame the state of Illinois for their ill-timed road maintenance — they were doing the same thing after the 4th of July as well!). The dog was very happy to be freed from his boarding kennel and reunited with his blankie, and the cat was so glad to see us that she first yowled at us non-stop for an hour or two before taking up residence on my lap and refusing to move.

We had a giant pile of mail when we got home — tons and tons of Christmas cards in among the bills! So fun! I was happy to have a great excuse to get a photo card made this year and send it to family and friends far and wide, and, of course, everyone returned the favor. So many great photos of everyone, their kids, and their pets! (Next year maybe Eegs and Flannery will make the card?) Now we have to find a way to display the cards somewhere at home. I’m thinking some kind of string and clip situation? I’ll let you know if I devise anything worth sharing.

And there you have it. Back at home and ready to start getting the next semester going. Would you believe I already have student emails to answer? Student emails that were sent the week of Christmas? Well, I do.

I also have an excess of phlegm this morning and had a sore throat last night in the car and I will tell you one thing: if I get sick now, after avoiding the flu for the last week yet being stuck inside anyway, well. WELL. I will be infuriated. I mean that would hardly be fair. HMPF.

Oh, and in other health news, I’m definitely going to be doing some clean-eating reset this January — not as extreme as the Vegetarian Not-Quite-Whole30 I tried last year, but along the same lines. I will post about it soon!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas Holiday, if you celebrate!