Well, this weekend didn't quite go as planned. I had visions of sugar plums dancing in my head and what we ended up with was a lump of coal. But, you make the most of what you've got to work with, and I'm still thankful for what we did have- each other.
I try to stick to the positive but there's really no sugarcoating it. Mom and Dad were still sick with the flu and still coughing a lot. They didn't have time (or energy) to go shopping. That meant there were no groceries, no presents... nothing. (Jeremy was able to pick up a few things last minute so we had food to eat on Christmas Day.)
The hardest part of the weekend was that Nana was also still really sick. While she was able to be released from the hospital last Thursday so she could be home for Christmas, she had been in the hospital for 10 days. Thus, she was incredibly weak and could barely move. Dad, Jeremy, Eliot and I all tried to move her from the chair to her hospital bed, but we couldn't do it. Thankfully, Dad had just rented a lift devise... otherwise, I don't know what we would have done.
Eliot, Jeremy and I weren't at all worried about the superficial stuff, but when we were actually home, it just made the whole situation more depressing. There was no tree with sparkling Christmas lights. No decorations, other than a few centerpieces sent as gifts. Christmas morning, there were no presents from Santa waiting for us on the couch. There weren't any stockings laid over the couch or chairs on Christmas Eve and filled with goodies the next morning. No, this Christmas was minimal.
Then, if all that wasn't depressing enough, the weekend was capped off with me getting food poisoning the day after Christmas... for the second year in a row.
But there were some good moments too.
We all slept in really late so we missed the original airing of the Disney Christmas Parade, but we were able to catch the replay of it over on Freeform from 12:00-2:00.
Mom loved the Bradford Exchange Disney Christmas Tree decoration Jeremy got her.
Nana was awake and talking with us for most of the day. When she wasn't, she was half asleep and humming. I wasn't sure what was happening at first, but at one point it appeared that she was humming Deck the Halls. She seemed content just to be there.
Jeremy got Eliot and me a few gifts that he had me suggest to him over Black Friday weekend. He got me three pairs of the Baublebar Disney earrings that I really wanted and he got Eliot the giant SJ Sharkie plush that we'd seen back in October while we were at the Sharks store. (Both of these were on sale Black Friday weekend too!)
Santa brought the donkeys a mini air hockey table- that he might have seen at the TJ Maxx in Augusta while driving home. (Yup, we buy the donkeys Christmas presents.)
Mom loved the Mickey and Minnie door greeters that Eliot and I got her. They are both dressed in fancy winter outfits in white and red, so they'll be good to display for quite a while- through Christmas, winter and Valentine's Day!
Jeremy delivered my belated birthday present- a Mickey Ghost Loungefly crossbody bag that was sold out everywhere, but magically came back in stock over Black Friday when they found a few extras at the warehouse!
Dad loved his new inflatables from Eliot and me. He was excited about the large Mickey and he immediately put the tiny inside Airdorable Santa Mickey inflatable up in the living room as soon as he found batteries for him.
Jeremy also bought the Disney Possible Dreams set that I wanted. It was really the only thing on my short Christmas list to "Santa" that I desperately wanted... especially since it's a retired piece that I've been looking for over a year. I found one on Mercari and sent the link to Jeremy to ask him to buy it for my gift (since Mom and Dad don't have Mercari), and a few minutes after texting it to him, it had sold. I figured it was him, but I was still so excited to open it Christmas morning!
Jeremy also picked up my new pink peacoat from Torrid that I found available at a store in New Hampshire. I tried it on and this one fit like it was made for me!
Since Mom and Dad were still pretty sick and weak, the three of us kids tried to help out around the house as much as we could. I was able to clean some of the dirty dishes in the sink that had piled up. (Mom was so grateful that she cried.)
While I was sick in bed, Jeremy and Eliot we able to be a huge help to Dad. They brought in all of Dad's Christmas decorations that he never got to put up outside.
Eliot and Dad went to get my new cell phone at AT&T and then they went to Home Depot to pick up a few more of those Ryobi LED lights that saved Eliot and I when we lost power a week and a half ago. Now, Dad has one and Jeremy got one too.
Santa also came home from Home Depot with a Disney gift card for both Eliot and me.
I now have an iPhone 14 Plus (at a great deal) instead of an iPhone 7.
And most important, Nana was home with us for Christmas.
Our time in Trenton ended on sour note. Nana went back to the hospital shortly after Jeremy left yesterday. We didn't want to send her back, but she had laid in bed most of the day and barely talked after she had been talking a lot Christmas Day. It was awful having to call the ambulance to pick her up, but we all knew it was for the best.
I wasn't able to handle watching her go (it just upset me and my stomach), so I went back upstairs and laid in bed. After a good cry, some more rest, and pulling myself together, I went downstairs for the first substantial time all day. Eliot had driven Dad up to Walmart and they had gotten some food. I was even able to stomach a little bit of Velveta mac and cheese... and I felt so much better after I ate something.
Eliot and I had already made the commitment to stay up in Trenton last night night due to me being sick all day. So after eating, Mom, Dad Eliot and I all collapsed in the living room and watched the Blind Side until it finished and it was time for bed.
Today was a bit better. After sleeping most of yesterday, I woke up right before my 8:00 AM alarm clock ready and raring to go. I felt so much better. I showered, had breakfast and started to gather my stuff. I was weak and very sore, but thankfully Eliot was able to get everything packed up in the truck ok without my help. We both said goodbye to Mom and Dad and left the house around 11:00 AM.
On the way home, we decided to do some post-Christmas discount shopping. Eliot technically had to work still, but since the manufacturing plant is closed for the week, he could pretty much work whenever he wanted to. We stopped at a bunch of places along the way. We found a bunch of treasures at the TJ Maxx in Ellsworth.
We had to stop at the Lowes in Brewer to pick up a few things that Eliot had ordered on Christmas Day when he found them on sale. We also found a few other things while browsing in the store, including another gift for Mom and Dad- the snowman Mickey and Minnie door greeters. Eliot then drove down the street to the Walmart in Brewer to get a drink, and he came back outside with a bunch of stuff.
Our other planned stop was in Augusta. I wanted to go back to the TJ Maxx since they had a bunch of stuff when we'd stopped on the way north. We found a few more things that made their way home with us. Eliot looked around the Home Depot but didn't see anything he needed. Finally, we both went into Home Goods where we found a few more things on sale. I was really surprised at how much stuff was still left!
Once we left Augusta, our truck was probably more stuffed than Santa's sleigh. Eliot couldn't really see out the back, but we were content with our treasures and excited to use them to decorate next year. We picked up so many wonderful discounted holiday things: lights, kitchen utensils, throw pillows... really too many things to name.
But a few were real gems and I still can't believe our luck. Eliot found the pack of Disney Hanukkah socks I really wanted. I'd seen someone selling them online but I've never seen them in store. He also found Disney Hanukkah pajama pants! They only had small and large left, but we bought them anyways. (We figure we can give the smalls to Elissa and keep hunting for another pair for us to both have some.)
My other personal favorite finds were the two Disney Princess Rae Dunn canisters we found. Both were Cinderella themed with carriages on them. They were located in the Christmas section with all of the other stuff that was on sale, so the cashiers ended up giving us 50% off those too! (I'm not sure if they were supposed to discount them... but I'll take it!) We got two for the price of one and I was happy as a clam.
After all of the stops we made, it took us twice as long to get home as it normally would have, but it was worth it. We finally just got home around 6:30 PM. Eliot's at work for a few hours now while I'm going to be watching the Sharks game in a little bit.
Reflecting on the weekend, it was definitely not the best Christmas that we have ever had. But I'm grateful that we were able to get Nana home for it, and I'm even more thankful that she was coherent enough on Christmas Day to know that we were all there with her. I'm not sure what's going to happen over the next few days, weeks, months with her health, but there's a very high chance that she won't still be here with us next Christmas. So this year's greatest gift was having Nana home with us. °o°
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