A Chicken in the Window Well: December 2022

If that very first Christmas didn't appear quite as exalted and shining as Joseph and Mary might have planned it would or assumed it should; if the wonder of angels singing and awed shepherds kneeling ... was all mingled with pain and mess and mortality; well, we certainly experienced our own miniature type of that Christmas in our own home this year.

I'd been a little anxious about Christmas Eve initially. Mike would be working until evening. And I wasn't sure how to make the day feel anticipatory and like Christmas coming ... for kids of so many different ages and interests with no Mike there to help make it happen.

But then Mike had the idea to ask the older girls to plan an adventure with their little sisters, and to ask Abe to plan an adventure with his younger brothers; and soon it was looking like it might actually be the best Christmas Eve ever!

The girls got to planning and making lists of where they might go: Rainbow Gardens, the aquarium, bowling. Abe and the boys were debating over nickel cades and even slightly considering far flung things like the zoo. Everyone was all excitement for their special sisters' or brothers' Christmas Eve adventure; and I began eagerly looking forward to listening to Peter Breinholt's Noel in an empty house while tidying for Christmas and making gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate when they returned. My mom would be joining us that night for Christmas songs played with Goldie's bells, dinner, and the kids' Nativity production. It almost sounded too good to be true.

And perhaps it was. ...

The night and morning leading into Christmas Eve were filled with children violently throwing up (for hours and with never more than thirty minutes of relief between bouts). More of them succumbed by that afternoon. (There was a middle-of-the-night moment where I was helping one child who, while using the toilet with one end missed it with the other. And another moment when, while helping another throwing up child, I heard a second child running for the bathroom below us. It wasn't until stepping in that second child's throw up that I learned they'd never made it to the bathroom at all. Those two moments give a pretty apt description of how glamorous this illness has been.)

Rather quickly Christmas Eve sibling adventures and gingerbread men were swapped for bowls to catch throw up and trying to find more couch spots to cover with blankets for sick kids to rest on. Bells and nativities were abandoned for a simple candle-lit reading of Luke 2 followed by a movie (which required no energy expenditure from the recovering).

Another child was hit with the sickness on Christmas Day. And another throughout that night leading into the 26th. And last night Starling threw up 11 times. (I will forever thank Goldie who, sharing a room with Starling while home for the break, took care of those episodes herself and never even woke me!)

And here we are. With seven kids having come through it over the course of the past four days. And still five of us not sure if we have escaped it ... or will yet be downed like the rest. (That is one of the problems with a family this large. You can actually help seven kids through a horrendous and messy illness [while doing double that many loads of laundry--sheets and towels and pajamas and so on] and somehow still have more children who might require the same help!)

But! Like that first Christmas, ours did still have metaphorical (and maybe even some literal) angels singing and shepherds kneeling. Perhaps most noticeably seen in the fact that our spirits were still mostly high despite all the disappointment of forsaken plans and set-aside traditions. I did, of course, have one meltdown cry on the 26th after my third night of no sleep, cleaning unsightly mess, and feeling cooped up. But overall, it's surprising how matter-of-factly, and mostly happily, we've all simply ... carried on. And there were still many perfectly happy Christmassy moments amidst all the unexpected turning of what we'd thought would be.

For example:

When it became clear that our Christmas Eve daytime activities were going to have to be postponed, Abe ventured out to hand select 120 of the best Pokémon cards he could find for the kids to all have fun taking turns choosing. And we still ordered pizza (for those of us who could actually eat).

And we made the house smell nice.

And Abe gave haircuts to the two boys who, at least at the beginning of the day, still felt well.

And even a few of the ill rallied to do some activities in some little fingerprint activity books I purchased for the day.

And Christmas morning was, miraculosuly, a perfect bright spot! The four who had been sick on Christmas Eve were seeming mostly recovered from the worst of it. Those who would fall later that day and night were still oblivious to their impending doom, and we opened gifts amidst all the usual excitement and happiness. There were kids eagerly playing with new toys, many Pokémon battles with the cards from the day before (Abe arranged some type of bracket tournament for them), and we even went to church (where, naively thinking we were in the clear rather than at the beginning of days of stomach flu, hopefully we didn't spread this madness to anyone else!).

Mette's been wanting Plusle and Minun for a long time.

All Summer has wanted for months is Gabby's Dollhouse stuff.

Jesse's main gift was an apple watch so we can now call and text him ... without him having to keep track of a phone. He also got a laser thing for telling the temperature of things and some cool range finder binoculars (curtesy of cousin Devin) that track distance and speed! (He also got more 3D printer filament.)

While it isn't much fun trying to shop and make gifts even and fair for so many kids, it is very fun having so many kids opening and excited about each other's gifts on Christmas morning!

The older girls usually get a new dress for Christmas. (And notice here and there in these pictures the occasional sighting of the gnomes Goldie made for all her sisters.)

Mette with a little jewelry box for all the new earrings she got for her little pierced ears.

I'm sad that we already have so many Calico Critters around here from the older girls getting them when they were younger. Calico Critters are some of the dearest toys and there aren't many we don't already have to gift the younger girls.

Anders got more random, small things than his siblings. Gumbi figures, a cryptids book, a Bigfoot blanket, etc.

This is the first Christmas Starling has been old enough to really get what was happening Christmas morning. At first she was so excited about the candy in her stocking that it was all she was interested in. But once she realized she had a little pile of presents, she could hardly wait her turn in the rounds of opening, and we had to keep pausing the order to let her open another gift.

Penny likes silly socks.

Goldie would wear sweaters all year long if she could.

These glasses allow rock climbers to see the climber above them without having to crank their neck up the whole time. (And they also look very silly.)

Like Summer, Mette has begged for all things Gabby's Dollhouse for three months straight. Then, about two days before Christmas she announced, "Mom, I don't really like Gabby's Dollhouse anymore. And I don't really want any Gabby's Dollhouse stuff for Christmas." Well. She still managed to be happy enough ... with lots of Gabby's Dollhouse stuff! Stinker girl.

Naturally Starling got a pink hat and a pink dress.

Poor Hans trying to wait patiently for his turn again in the rotation of present opening.

The older four kids main gift? Decent snow boots! (Which none of them had. And, because they are none too cheap, buying really good ones now, when their feet have stopped growing, seemed like a good idea.)

Abe getting something that connects to his bow to hold arrows.

I have been talking about boot dryers forever! Nearly every day of winter the kids come home from school with boots soaked through! So, good surprise from Mike!

I tried to get each of the girls something kind of unique to them. Fellowship of the Ring bookends for Daisy, Sherlock Holmes earrings for Penny, and some very cool hummingbird earrings for Goldie to take on her mission as a reminder of her Grandpa Gordy being there to aid her.

The kids were very good at showing grateful appreciation and excitement.

Hans's squishmallow sloth.

Mike gave me my very own laptop. I've been thinking that I don't write or edit photos as much as I would like simply because our little Chromebooks that the kids use for homework, etc. can't do what I need, and I'm just never too keen to head up to the loft to use our desktop computer! I don't know why. It's hard to leave the madness of the family unattended, I guess. So I'm excited to get this set up and maybe write, etc. a bit more regularly when I can just be right there nearby everyone, or maybe even in bed at night!

These wooden croaking frogs Mike bought for the family are wonderful. You just run a wooden handle along the wooden ridges on their backs and ... frogs are croaking in the background. It's a pleasant sound. And oddly satisfying to make.

Anders perpetually has this book checked out from the library. Now he has his own copy and someone else can check out the library's copy. (Has anyone else ever checked out the library's copy though?) When he opened it, Mike said, "It's yours for three whole weeks!"--suggesting we'd just checked it out for him again.)

There's usually a few new games gifted at Christmas time.

Mike also bought me this velvet Christmas dress. I'd seen it online and debated buying it for myself. But in the end I couldn't quite justify it. It was a little expensive. And I already had a green dress after all. So wasn't it fun when somehow, Mike magically saw and bought it for me. He's a good gift giver. One of the best. (And poor man. All he got was a new monitor for the family computer and a bunch of cinnamon bears. Oh I love him so much.)