Did you have such a happy Christmas? I feel so very British when I say that, Happy Christmas. Like I am Kate Winslet in The Holiday or something equally as cheesy and perfect, all in one package. For Thanksgiving, we played a partial Fruit Basket Upset… eating our normal noon meal at my in-laws but shifting our evening meal {and all the fam that comes with it} to Casa de Brehm. And honestly, it went off without a hitch.
But Christmas… we didn’t even talk about changing it. I think we just knew that if we could, we would keep it normal. And normal for us, or what has become our normal over 11 Christmases together is that we spend Christmas Eve with the hubs’ fam and then, Christmas morning, we make the drive over the river and through the woods to the other side. We do our very best to keep track of which gifts go where and strategically load the car {okay, that’s all hubs} so that we don’t have to track things in to one house that we don’t need. And we’ve also slowly learned that we don’t take presents opened at one house inside to the next… because inevitably, someone loses a green Lego and the world ends.
I crashed hard last week after receiving Chemo on the 18th. I had been warned that because the drugs are cumulative, by the third, fourth, and fifth treatment, you can really start to feel the side effects. And feel them I did. Mostly, it’s the fatigue that’s the most noticeable. Like, can’t open my eyes or type coherent text messages or even watch trash TV kind of fatigue. As I am sure you noticed, I like to name things. And I named the girl who hangs out on the Sunday/Monday/Tuesday/and sometimes Wednesday post-chemo treatments, “Crashli”. She’s a super cool but zombie-like chick who has to use the loo A LOT. And this time, she had to use the facilities even more due to a sort of c diff flare-up/recurrence.
BUT. Silver Lining time, friends. My rock star doc did some research and found me an alternate antibiotic to take down the c diff this time and so, I was still able to imbibe during the festivities. And for that, he deserves some sort of Doctor of All Mankind Award. Because I can handle this cancer situation. But Christmas without a taste of spiked Nog… I just don’t know. And, I also went in for a little Spa time… kidding. I went in for fluids at my current fave spa — Village Pointe Infusion Center — Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to make sure I was all juiced up for the Holiday weekend.
Anyway, I know… I know… “get to the meat of it, Ashli” you’re thinking. So here’s the rundown, mostly in pics.
On Christmas Eve Eve {or as one of my very witty friends calls it, Christmas Adam}, I got to meet up with my sorority sisters for wine, cheese, and laughter. And I only cried once all night. And they were only tears of thanks. Because these girls, you guys, man. I think they would go to the ends of the earth for me. Which is good because for them, I’d do the same.
We woke Christmas Eve morning to snuggles and snow. Boy, were the boys excited. And I thought it was pretty much magical, as well.
Then, the hubs and I got the boys packed up and he took them over to grandma and grandpa’s for Christmas Eve-ery. And I stayed home, rested, and admired the snow.
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| Oh, the personalities are ever-present here, aren’t they? |
