Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Odd Little Christmas

Christmas morning started according to plan. I got up at 6:00 and went to the studio for a three hour spin workout, which would put me in calorie deficit, free to eat whatever suited my fancy for the rest of the day.

The workout went well and I came back to the house at 9:30 with visions of coffee and panettone dancing in my head, to find Dan lying on the sofa. “I’ve got bad news,” he said. “I’ve got another kidney stone.”

Great.

“I just had one last week. I don’t know why I keep getting them.”

“Have you been drinking lots of water?” I asked.

“Uh…no.”

“I don’t think we’re going to need to call Sherlock Holmes, then.” I told Dan that I would get cleaned up and we’d go fill the prescription he got last week for pain meds.

“I tore it up. I didn’t need it.”

“You know our emergency room co-pay is $100, right?”

Merry Christmas to us.

I took a shower, made coffee for myself and heated up some panettone. We opened our gifts, which I absolutely loved—some books from my Amazon wish list and a spin video I’ve been coveting. Dan was definitely not feeling good, and after we unwrapped our gifts, he decided to go to the minor emergency clinic. I offered to take him, but he swore he was okay to go alone and didn’t want to ruin my Christmas if he had to be there all day. So since he’s a grownup, I told him what I thought of his stupid plan to drive while he was in pain, and let him go.

It was actually a relief to have him gone. I washed some dishes, disposed of the wrapping paper, photographed the bunny enjoying her Christmas present, and got ready to go to my parents’ house. Just before I left, I called Dan, who said he was being discharged and to wait.

Well, okay. He came home (on non-narcotic painkillers) and we got to my parents’ house only half an hour late, where we found the following:

• my brother suffering from severe depression and doped up on new meds
• my sister recovering from bronchitis
• my father with some sort of pulled muscle in his hip
• my (step)mother with a bruised tailbone from a recent fall

This left only me and my sister’s boyfriend among the whole and hearty. What a way to buck the trend!

Food was iffy. It was all store-bought and from Boston Market, not homemade or absurdly expensive high-end deli stuff like what Dan and I are used to. But I was hungry and filled my plate twice, both for dinner and dessert. I ate lots of cookies, too.

We had all agreed ahead of time that gifts were to be minimal, so although we got some nice stuff, the bulk of our gifts was in gift cards and cash. I know it’s not in the correct spirit to say this, but I like it better this way. My family members, especially my parents, have proven to be very good at giving me stuff I don’t care for or don’t need, and since we’re all grownups, it’s less wasteful to just give each other the means to buy what we want.

We left my parents’ house early, since Dan’s pain was starting to return. We went to a 24-hour pharmacy and got his prescription for stronger pain meds filled, and I picked up my new asthma meds while I was there, since I had only one more day before I needed refills. This saved me a trip today or tomorrow, so I don’t need to go anywhere today unless I really want to.

We got home early enough for me to finish a writing project I was working on, and by then I was getting sleepy. The early morning workout and lack of a nap had finally caught up with me. I kissed my drugged-up hubby good night and went to bed.

Merry Odd Christmas to us!

9 comments:

the Bag Lady said...

Bunnygirl - the Bag Lady can certainly relate to how kidney stones can f**k up an otherwise good day! The Cowboy (whose real name, incidentally, is one letter different from your hubby's), suffers from kidney stones, too. Don has had surgery twice, and has had shock-wave therapy (3 times for one particularly large, obstinate stone). He continues to suffer occasionally. He has even had stones in his saliva glands, and had to have one gland removed.
(Of course, the Bag Lady delighted in telling him she always knew he had rocks in his head!!)
Hope Dan is feeling better soon. Try lemon juice in the water - sometimes helps.

Chris Eldin said...

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to laugh at this or not, so I tried to keep it to a smile.

That's probably not so odd, if we were all honest about our families...

:-)

Anonymous said...

Ouch! I'm so sorry to hear about Dan's kidney stones. I hope he's feeling better soon! And ACK, I'm sorry so many members of your family were feeling yucky. But LOL @ Merry Odd Christmas -- had a few of those myself! ;-D

Hubby and I just got back from visiting my family -- had a lovely time, and we played with my bro's adorable little doggie -- a floofy white Malti-pom (Maltese-Pomeranian cross). She's a dollbaby -- her and Marilyn and Tidbit would make such a cute multi-species trio together! :-)

Wishing you a Happy New Year, my friend. :)

RG said...

How about a Happy New Year!!!

Our siblings and parents (what's left of them) live 2,000 or more miles from here and we can't leave home ... Heee Heee!

Wish it had a been a better Christmas for ya, just the same.

MaoMao said...

Meowy Odd Chrissymouse! We Ballicai hadded an odd Chrissmouse bekause the beans left us OFURNIGHT!!! Can you beleeve that??? But we putted out some Tamptayshuns fur Santy Paws, hehe.

My Momma's gotted a really good chance to catch up on her reading, and she's zippin right along on the story you wrote, My New-Found Land! She's lovin it and will probly finish it today or tomorrow.

Kittyhugs and purrs from MaoMao!

Anonymous said...

Yes, as MaoMao said, Mom is riveted to your novel! *smile* And I'm sorry your Christmas had its odd aspects -- and I hope your hubby is feeling better!

Purrs and snuggles from Marilyn!

Vickie said...

I would say your Christmas is normal for you. Others have their oddities, I'm sure. That's why I believe in live and let live. No judgment on how others' lives go. We can't control many of the things that happen, so why fight it? Glad you had a good day despite everything.

Michele said...

Ugh, sorry to hear about all of these health issues, BG, especially Dan's kidney stones. They're painful. :-( I hope your people recover as quickly as my Dad! Sounds like you had a nice Christmas anyway, even if the food wasn't all that.

BTW, it seems so amazing to me that a pharmacy was open---all night!---on Christmas. I've been out of the country too long. ;-)

Zinger said...

hey Tidbit - come on over if you wanna - i have unlimited hay, yogurt drops, fruits and nuts and lots of cool toys. mum is in Tucson with her family and Big Dumb Puppy this week so i'm throwing a bash ;-)