An Edenfield Christmas

The bad news - both kids had the flu over Christmas.
The good news - both adults stayed relatively healthy!

The bad news - trey's tamiflu prescription cost $130 (Cosi was not given it b/c she was almost through her bout with the flu).
The good news - just the day before, we had received an anonymously sent $100 bill in the mail. 

The bad news - at the end of the flu, Cosi got a sinus infection.
The good news - we were easily able to get a doctor appointment for her.

The bad news - Trey developed an ear infection at the end of his battle with the flu.
The good news - after hysterically crying (it's not hard to do when you're sleep deprived) to the busy nurse over the phone, April was able to get him a doctor appointment.

The bad news - Trey was so sick on Christmas morning that he dazedly walked out of his room, looked at his presents and cried.
The good news - Trey warmed up and after 5 hours of coaxing finally sat inside his new Cozy Coupe truck.

The bad news - Cosi's nose was running nonstop for 5 days of excess mucous.
The good news - we had a Chinese professor staying with us and she took it upon herself to constantly wipe Cosi's nose.

The bad news - we had to cancel our Christmas dinner plans, due to the kids being ill.
The good news - we let our Chinese professor house guest cook us dinner!

Seriously though, we had a great Christmas in Florida and we're thankful for our many blessings.  Here are some pictures :)

Our very serious Cosi working on her 2nd gingerbread house.  The first collapsed due to excess pressure by the decorator.  This was not a problem, as the supplier expected such difficulties might arise and had already prepared a back-up house. 
Below, you'll see our house guests over the holiday - Ping, a visiting professor from China who is at USC for the year, and her daughter, Jessie.  We're so thankful to report that they did NOT get the Flu.

 I was a bit desperate to provide activities for the children.  I grabbed the kitchen salt and poured it on paper plates, so the kids could play with it.  My kids both immediately dumped their plates, even after I modeled drawing with your finger in the salt.  Jessie took much better care of her salt.  I don't think Jessie's mom was very impressed with my salt games.  She thought it was wasteful.  I guess it is a pretty wasteful activity that ruins food.  I'm such an American sometimes.

 On Christmas Day, we took a girls trip to a local playground.  Rob stayed home with sick Trey.  Jessie started out a bit serious, but I coaxed some smiles out of her.  The weather was gorgeous.  I was so proud of Cosi for going down the big blue slide.

 We also decorated two giant sugar cookies.  I didn't feel up to the ordeal of rolling the dough and cutting out separate cookies, so I just shoved the dough into two pans that my aunt had given me.  The girls were happy.  Jessie is really smiling - quite an accomplishment for us!  Cosi makes the funniest faces.