Christmas 2014

I felt fairly organised in November but after Thanksgiving it seemed as though time sped up and it was the 1st December and Pete and I realised we needed to get a tree. We have a tradition of always having a real tree if we are going to be home for Christmas. Nothing beats a real pine tree. I grew up having a real tree pretty much every year. We were lucky enough to live right amongst Pine plantations when we lived in Weegena, in Northern Tasmania. I remember going to find stray pine trees and dad, then later on, Simeon would cut it down, put it in the back of the ute and we'd get rocks in a bucket of water and maneuver the tree until it held steady. I adore Christmas and was keen to get the house decorated and get into the spirit of the season. 

We ended up visiting this lovely tree farm fairly close to our house. 

Will was so excited to select a tree. They didn't have any 7 foot trees though, so the workers went out to cut a few down. 

While we waited I took some photos of the boys. Henry had a great time being with his daddy and Will discovered a cubby house and made some fast friends to play with. 

We got back quite late so decorated it a day or two later. Will was right into it and of course Henry would just take the baubles straight off the tree as soon as Will would get them on. 

I lost a lot of my excitement in December. I don't know what happened but I felt quite flat and really unmotivated. I usually love wrapping presents and going out and giving gifts and doing service but I just couldn't get into the swing of things as much as I would normally. I'm sure that I was thinking of Dad and missing him as it's our first Christmas without him. 

On Christmas Eve morning Will asked me if we could make cookies for Santa. I hadn't mentioned anything like this at all even though I kept thinking about it...So it was good to get a bit of motivation from him. We made a huge batch of my go to choc chip cookies and delivered a few that afternoon. Will and Henry spent most of the day with Grandma which was so good. I was able to rush around doing some last minute errands and preparing the house for the family coming for dinner on Christmas Day. 

Will loved hanging the stockings on Christmas Eve.

He poured a big glass of milk for Santa and placed a heap of cookies on a plate and left a couple of carrots for the Reindeer. He even wanted to write a card for Santa. 

It was lovely to read some Christmas stories with him and watch a little video of the Nativity as well. Just as I was putting the kids to bed I started getting gripey gut pains and soon after was in a bad way. I spent most of the night with all the symptoms of food poisoning. I knew immediately that the only thing I ate differently to anyone was prawns. I'd made myself some cold rolls and ate them when the kids were with Grandma. I was a mess and felt revolting on Christmas morning. I dragged myself out of bed at 7:45am when the kids woke up so I could see them look at their stockings. Will was so excited and just content to play with his stocking goodies and didn't even ask to open gifts. I went back to bed as I was just so sick. I rarely get sick and can usually grin and bear most things but I just had to lie down. It was awful lying in bed hearing the kids playing on Christmas morning and wishing I could just be out there amongst it. I had a little rest and got up again so we could do presents with the boys. They were excited. Henry loved the paper, boxes and the most simple present of a beach bucket and spade. 

Will loves Star Wars and lego at the moment. They are his greatest loves. He was thrilled with his Darth Vader costume and lego. 

I felt terrible that Sue had to do most of the cooking and preparation. She had been looking to having the year off as we'd offered to host and do a lot of the cooking etc. Pete helped her out while Bill entertained the kids. 

We didn't get many photos at all as I was so out of it so I'm glad we got a couple with Pete's Grandma Jessie. She had a fall a few weeks earlier after blacking out. She broke her wrist from the fall and has had to go to respite for awhile until she can use her arm properly. We were glad she was up to coming out. She was looking very frail. She will be 92 this month!

Henry was winning hearts as usual. The cheeky little guy was trying to get into Grandma's yummy homemade shortbread. 

It took a couple of days for me to feel better and poor Pete ended up sick Christmas night so the whole Christmas period was a bit of a write off for us. I felt like we needed a do over! The kids had a fantastic Christmas and for Pete and I...it was at least memorable ;-) 

We had some friends over on New Years Day for a BBQ and that at least felt a bit festive and it was nice to enjoy entertaining friends again. 

sick

I'm not normally one who gets sick very often, but I've been unwell for over a week. Last week I got some sort of yucky gastro thing which then seemed to develop into a high temperature.
I though I was better on Sunday, but all this week I have been draging myself to work totally exhausted and so physically weak. I lost 3 kilos over the last 4 days and just haven't been able to eat much - and I love my food, even when I am sick.
Anyway I have had a high temp over the past few days and finally yesterday arvo I felt absolutely horrid. Like I was roasting alive. My eyes were blurry and stinging like crazy. One of my colleagues just came near me and felt the heat coming off me, and she said you need to take a sickie at the very least, and get yourself to a doctor.
Now why didn't I do this much earlier? Because I am too stubborn, and thought well I've had a blessing, I should be fine to just trust in that.
I think Heavenly Father is more than happy for us to take advantage of the modern methods we have now to take care of our health. Being a teacher aswell, I find it so hard to have time off work, because not only do you have to find things to set for your 4-7 classes on any given day, you often are behind when you come back to work. Sometimes it's easier to just go to work even when you're not 100%. I know it sounds stupid, but I've found with my job, there is so much to get through in an average school day it is so much harder not to be there. Japanese classes are hard to set because you never get relief teachers who teach Japanese, and there are only so many worksheets and videos etc you can set. Language is such a teacher-directed subject.
However, having said all that (sorry to get on my soapbox about how hard us teacher's have it - coz I know we don't have the only hard job in the world) I have learnt that I need to look after myself better, and not worry so much about the world crashing down around me if I'm not there to control it. (I'm really talking about my classes here). I hate being a control freak!

All well again

Hi Guys,

Well I have pretty much recovered now. I went back to school Tues. My throat still feels slightly scratchy but its nearly 100%.
Anyway, not much to post at this point. Will update very soon. Stay tuned
xo

Laryngitus

Wednesday at school I was struggling to project my voice properly during my year 8 Japanese class. Thursday it was worse and I knew I would be struggling to teach. The kids were great though when I told them I needed them to be really focused on me and working quietly. Thurs arvo I spoke to the AP(assistant Principal) to ask for Friday off. I was a little surprised when she mentioned how tight we were for staff (Its year 12 Valedictory), so I asked if I could at least have my Fri afternoon off to go to a Dr. My colleagues were a bit taken aback to hear that I wasn't allowed the whole day off. Anyway, I went in Fri and my colleagues looked at me, heard me attempt to say good morning, and were adament that I shouldn't teach. My mate Simon immediately rang the AP and told her that he was covering my lesson 1 and 2 and that I just needed lesson 3 covered. He advocated for me and managed to get all my lesson covered. He is a darling! The staff I work with are amazing. We are all there for each other and willing to sacrifice for each other etc. It really is the best group of ppl I've ever worked with.
I still went to my lessons at the beginning to write stuff on the board and collect assignments. My year 9's were the cutest though. For a bunch of teenagers, they really are sweet and sincere. They were all telling me they'd miss me and that they hoped I'd get better. I got lots of high fives and get well soons as I left.

The dr told me to take a few days to rest my voice etc and gave me a perscription for what he said was the yummiest tasting cough syrup (I had a nasty chest cough at that stage). I got to the Chemist and asked for the syrup. The lady who served me said 'Have you ever had this syrup before?' Its the worst tasting stuff available, but the most effective one I know. I didn't realise that the Dr was being sarcastic...

Has anyone tried it, its called 'SENEGA and AMMONIA' and it is FOUL! It tastes vaguely like Sarspirella and it makes you shudder big time!

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty miserable with a runny nose. It never ceases to amaze me how much snot one can produce whilst sick....EWWWW