Karen Foley
Lynn Raye Harris
Ellen Hartman
Diana Holquist
Samantha Hunter
Shirley Jump
Dee Tenorio
Jeannie Watt
Not so fun traditions...
When I was growing up, one thing never failed to happen during the holidays. I would always, without question, be horribly ill during at least one. I'm not kidding. Every year.
I usually got through Turkey Day okay. Like the gentle welcome of small pox infected blankets, Turkey Day would lull me into thinking this would be the year that I didn't get sick. Call it Turkey Delusions.
Sometimes, I'd make it all the way to Christmas Eve without so much as a cold. I'd be excited. Confident. Then I'd wake up and want to die on Christmas. Then I'd be coughing up organs all the way to New Years.
It didn't help that we lived in "cold" places in my youngest years. (I use the quotations because those of you who live in snow will likely not agree with me.) Fresno drops down to the teens pretty regularly in winter, though mostly in the night. But if you don't have insulation or a strong enough heater, that's bloody cold no matter where you're at. And as I have the constitution of a snowflake, I caught everything that moved.
When we moved to So Cal, I thought my luck would change. But no, there's germs here too. The told me I'd grow out of it. I'd toughen up. After I got married, hubby's family shared their joy of the season by infecting me with what to them was a cold they picked up in the Philippines. As I've never been to Asia, to me it was "That crippling Asian Flu that turned into pneumonia and had you in bed for two months?"
Now, you'll probably think this depresses me, but by now it's kind of funny. Hubby has the constitution of a moose. The boy is equally formidable (though he's a fabulous carrier). We're not sure of the girls yet, but they seem pretty sick resistant. Pretty much, it's just me, sick again between the holidays.
So how about you? Got any strange things that just always happen to you? Funny holiday stories of weird gone wrong? Share! :)
Dee
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Ooh...
Bummers, Dee! I don't remember this being a "tradition," but with several kids in the house, I usually assume that at least one of us is sick just about year round... If it's just the sniffles, we're doing well; otherwise, usually someone's still coughing up a lung ;) Argh!
The only odd holiday thing is that still missing bag of cranberries... I know we had one a few years ago but was never able to find it--I searched high and low, completely clearing out the refrigerator AND the freezer, checked the cabinets in case I put it in with the dry goods, but nope, not even a glimpse... Maybe the mice had a party that year!
Anyway, maybe this year you'll break tradition ;)
LOL, I wish
I had a horrible stomach flu and I'm coming out of it to the boy's rotten cold, lol.
We had the opposite with the cranberries. A forgotten can in the freezer for a whole year, lol. I asked hubby if he'd still eat them and he checked the date on the bottom. Missed em by a week, lol!
Dee
Aww
Poor you, Dee - getting sick around the holidays is the worst. I tend to get sick around finals - but the euphoria of being done makes the holidays that much better :P
As for holiday traditions... er... growing up, we went with live trees for a while. Of course, we were always busy and something or other... so I remember hours (and years) of scrambling around trying to find a respectable Christmas tree. We once had to use a potted pine from the backyard :P Either way, for a number of years our "oops" tradition was putting the tree up on Christmas Eve. We just never got around to doing it until we realized there was nowhere to put the presents!
Not a tradition
but I've been fighting bronchitis for the past week. The funny thing is I wasn't even aware I was sick at first. I've had a couple of things just recently set my world on tilt and the fact that I was coughing, sneezing, and losing my voice didn't even show as a blip on my radar until this weekend when I finally had a moment to myself.
Then the hacking of major organs commenced. Oh, said I, bronchitis! Too late to see the doctor for it and it's pretty much on its way out so I doubt I will now.
ani
Hope next year you can break this tradition of being sick.
It's not fun being sick for the holidays. Hope you start feeling better soon.
I am working today on breaking a bad habit of getting my Christmas cards out really late. I enjoy getting them so much that I do send them. For the last few years I have been sending them out later and later. This year I am determined to meet the mailing deadline. Happy Holidays and All the Best in 2009!
LOL Kaelee
I regularly tell myself that as long as I get them out before New Years, they're okay. Hubby says no cards this year, though. I gotta email them. Of course, now my delay is that if I'm limited to email, the darn man is taking a picture! (If I didn't have kids that look so strikingly alike, people would start to wonder if I didn't invent the man!)
Dee, I'm so sorry to hear
Dee, I'm so sorry to hear that you have an unhappy tradition. But maybe this will be the year!
My tradition is to think I'm going to get so much done over the holidays, and then somehow end up having more "to-do" stuff on the list than I started with.
Again, hoping this is the year...
Jeannie
unwanted traditions
When I was a youngster, my much older brother and his wife seemed to always announce they were having a baby or getting a divorce. Since they only had two kids, the other news was the one most often heard. This naturally caused a huge uproar in the family, but then things would settle down after a few weeks and they would be fine for awhile. Eventually they did divorce, but remarried within a few years and are still together, over 40 years so I guess they worked it out. I don't have any real contact with them.
Okay, that was a downer. Sorry.
The past few years my older daughter has managed to get sick with either a nasty stomach bug, upper respiratory infection or your basic cold around the holidays. Every year. For the past five years or so. It seems her poor little body just wears out from the stress of school and everything that goes into being a teen.
Our other odd tradition has been to do some type of big do-it-yourself home improvement project that always takes longer than expected to finish so things like decorating, shopping, baking, all become last-minute projects.
Of course, the painting, dust, etc. from those home improvement projects probably contributed to the daughter's illnesses. Hmmmmm. Glad we passed on doing a project this year. Lol!