Not yet, at least

In my last posting, referring to the yucky cold I've had for a week now, I concluded with the observation that it will end sometime soon. Not yet, at least. On Christmas Eve, after we returned from a lovely evening, with most of our family at Michael and Shauna's house, I noticed that my left eye was infected. So, on Christmas morning we went to Instacare, and the doctor there was surprised that after a full week I was still as sick as I was and had a fever, so she prescribed an antiobiotic, a decongestant, and some eye drops, and told me to stay home and take it easy for at least another couple days or until I started feeling up to it.

Claudia and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary in November of this year. And yesterday, as it turns out, was the first time in the 36 Christmases we've shared that it was just the two of us alone on Christmas morning. (Paul and Eliza, who live with us now, had slept overnight at Paul's dad's house.) And, so we decided to spend it at Instacare and the only pharmacy we knew of that was open on Christmas morning and at Albertson's, which was probably the only grocery store open in town.

Our first Christmas, just a month after we were married, was spent in California with Claudia's parents. All subsequent Christmases had one or more or all of our eight children living with us. Last year's Christmas, coming just weeks after Talmage and Louise were married, thus officially making us empty nesters, would have been our first alone together, except we camped out at Michael and Shauna's house while Michael and Shauna spent much of the night from Christmas Eve into Christmas morning at the delivery room trying to have the twins that did not actually come for another two and a half weeks.

It was a pleasant enough day if you ignore that I felt miserable and still couldn't talk much. It had snowed a lot the night before, and the sun came out, and it was a gorgeous, though cold, white Christmas.

The family gathered in the late afternoon for more eating, and final gifts, and playing games, and visiting. Representations were made of how each couple or family used what they received of the Grandpa Lange Christmas money. (We had everyone here except Rachael and Robert in Malad; he was on call for the holiday, and actually had to deliver a baby early Christmas morning; and Rebecca and Cade, who were returning home from St. George.)