Christmas 2014 Was... Interesting...

Spousal Unit and I traveled down to California to visit my family this past Christmas for a week of vacation. We were excited to see them and had presents--everything was set up just fine!

We got to attend the family Christmas Eve party at my aunt's house and the Spousal Unit got to meet my cousins' children.

Passing out the presents!

My mom and grandma getting blurry shots--they were on their feet a lot during the party.

But, Spousal Unit held still for me, though!

And then he stole the camera! So hi, that's me!

Now, Christmas day was lovely and had no photos--we had breakfast at our family friends' home, did a white elephant gift exchange there, and then came home and opened all of our presents (we did it late because my sister had to work the morning). My sister's boyfriend joined us for this and I enjoyed getting to know him better. After that, we all went to my aunt's home (other side of the family) and had Christmas dinner with them. The evening was good: we chatted with my aunt and cousins and watched White Christmas. I may or may not have completely fallen asleep in the comfiest armchair in the world.

The next day, we all got together and went out shopping with my immediate family in the evening, but then... something happened. My brother is a rock of good health and when he stated that he didn't feel good, we took him quite seriously. We bundled him into the car and headed back for home. We were not fast enough. He began throwing up in the back of the car. We finally got him home and my lovely husband ended up cleaning the vomit from my sister's car while mom worked on getting laundry going. Then Spousal Unit and I decided to call it a night and went to our hotel.

It was a good call. We started getting sick. My sister and mom texted shortly--they were also sick. All five of us ended up with the worst case of food poisoning in our lives (I wish I were exaggerating). For the next 24-36 hours none of us could even stomach water or saltine crackers, were frequently going at both ends, sleeping was impossible, reading or otherwise occupying our minds even less possible, curled up in balls wanting to actually die so the pain would end, and almost always needed the single bathroom at the same time (Spousal Unit and I were sharing one, and my mom and siblings shared their own at home--there were NOT enough bathrooms). I hobbled to a grocery store the next afternoon for saltines, ginger ale, water bottles, and probiotics, but I was out for the rest of the day upon managing that little. I felt really bad for our houskeeping having to clean our hotel room, but I mostly felt truly grateful I didn't have to clean up after that awful night.

Sunday morning came and all five of us were feeling delicate but well enough to be around each other, and all of us were desperately in need of sustenance, so we went to a pub for lunch.

My brother clearly felt fine, but we talked him into choosing gentle food just in case.

My sister didn't like me sniping pictures, but even after that weekend, she and my mom were so darn cute! Mom didn't notice.

Spousal Unit and I left on Tuesday and made the long drive up to the Frozen North. Getting food was difficult because our stomachs had definitely not recovered from the horrors of the food poisoning and major dehydration (it took us about another week to finally get back to normal). We were so very close to going to the emergency room (if it had gone on another 12 hours, we would have).

I wish our Christmas hadn't been marked by being so sick, but it really killed all the fun we were having and had planned. I was hoping to see my sister's boyfriend's band perform (he got the food poisoning, too, and still played the set and traveled for it! Amazing man), but I hold out hope to catch a show some other time I can visit.