MyLife-The Warning Cough and a Christmas Tree

Today's topic is the warning cough that proceeds vomiting. So you are warned.

I am feeling grateful for the warning cough that proceeds vomiting because I have been listening for it day and night for the last 36 hours as the flu makes its way through my family.

It started with my 7 year old who caught the flu bug at night. He had one vomiting episode that night and two the next day. The warning huffing cough helped me keep the mess at a minimum.

Then my 10 year old caught it. She's good at catching her own messes, so I was mere moral support.

With that night spent uneventfully, I decided we were going to the mountains to cut our Christmas tree. My husband had to work, so I enlisted his Mom and two brothers and sister to come with us, and my youngest sister as well. We had planned to leave at 10 a.m., but like all travel with more than one person, we left late. After filling up our cars with gas and tires with air and finishing the other loose ends that seem to unravel a schedule, it was 11:30 a.m. by the time we were pulling out of Central Point, Oregon, headed for a treed area outside of Prospect, Oregon. All of us were enjoying just being together (in other words, no one was stressed out by the late departure) and I had reason to be grateful for the relaxed air of the group.

By the time we'd reached Prospect, I'd pulled to the side of the road three times to the sound of that warning cough that signaled a food expulsion. My 18 month old and 3 year old had both caught the flu.

Sharing a car with vomiting children normally would have had me heading back for home. The stink alone could do that! But I was set on cutting my own Christmas tree. My years of childhood "wild tree cutting tradition" wanted me to share the good times with my children. So I pushed on. My 18 year old brother-in-law stuck some AireMaster bars into the vents of my car (my in-laws own an
Airmaster franchise) and we continued on toward Prospect to the smell of apple cider with an underlying, but easily ignored, smell of vomit.

This is a photo of me with my 18 month old--the snow suit hides the smell and mess.

We cut our Christmas trees out of douglas fir. A douglas fir tree does not look like the bushy evergreens sold on tree lots. At least not if they are cut wild from a mountain. Their boughs are more widely spaced--perfect for showing off ornaments. I like a tree that acts like a display shelf for the ornaments, rather than like an I spy game of hide and seek. And a wild grown tree lasts until the new year before dropping lots of needles. And the tag only costs $5.00. If you ignore the cost of gas and a day of work (if your days of work are paid for in money), then cutting a wild tree for Christmas is a good deal. And even if it doesn't pencil out entirely, the experience of taking my suburban children into the snow and beauty of the mountains to find the best Christmas tree ever (it's the best every year) is priceless. And no flu will keep me from giving that experience to my children. And of course, they WILL enjoy it.

This is a photo of my 15 year old BIL holding a douglas fir Christmas tree.

So now you're wondering if the experience was worth it. It was. The sick children forgot their ills for most of the time we were there. We took happy pictures, which always defines how we remember the event. True, I spent yesterday sick and today my 3 year old is still sick. So I am still listening for the warning cough (which sounded its warning in the car after I dropped the rest of the family off at church). But we have a Christmas tree leaning up against my roof ready to be fit into its stand and decorated tomorrow for our Family Night.

And it's the best Christmas tree ever! Or do you think yours is?