Home for the Holidays (part II) or Norwalk-a-thon

No more than 24 hours after I posted home for the holidays part one I came down with the flu – which I am assuming was the Norwalk Virus because it apparently was going around town.

Early on Christmas Eve I woke up at around 3am and started puking my guts out. I came downstairs, not wanting to wake or worry the family to find my brother on the comfy couch, so I took my place on love seat and hoped the nausea would pass. It didn’t and I ran to the bathroom and began one of the worst days of my life. As I was lying on the bathroom floor, I worried about waking my poor sleeping brother – who I assumed had been kicked out of bed by his 18 month old son. Not to worry, he was up before and enjoying the same ritual I was over at the kitchen sink.

The only thing worse than throwing up on Christmas Eve is listening to your brother throw up on Christmas Eve as well. At first I felt bad worrying that he was sick because he heard me get sick but it turns out he started throwing up a good 2 hours before me. At first no one was afraid of us they all assumed that we had drunk too much home made wine and were being appropriately punished. Nope, it was Norwalk and they got theirs for accusing both of us of being unable to hold our liquor.

It got pretty bad. First Lu, then me, then The Lady, then the baby, then my Sister in Law, and finally Nana all were crushed by the Norwalk. Some how my father managed to not get the flu, but then again he had the flu shot so he deserves not to have the flu. The saddest part is that we didn’t open presents until almost 4pm on Christmas Day because no one could muster the energy to get out of bed. My dad pointed out as we were opening gifts that we once opened presents at 4 one other time … but it was 4am not 4pm.

On Christmas morning I was wrapping gifts for Lu and we had the following exchange:

Lu: Thanks for wrapping my presents.

TSG: No problem, but the hair straightener is going in a bag, I don’t have the energy to figure out how to wrap that.

Lu: Done. Have you ever, in all your 30 years, been less excited about Christmas?

TSG: No, never. You?

Lu: No. This sucks. Lu groans and lies down on the floor having used all his energy for that one brief exchange.

(From down the hall The lady sheds a tear listening to our pathetic Christmas dialogue but can not move for fear of expelling toxins for the 23rd time in twelve hours.)

Good Times, great memories.


Tomorrow the final installment of home for the holidays where we review some of the best quotes from my family.

TSG