That cold that I have been doing my best to postpone finally caught up with me. I left work early yesterday because I could feel it kicking in, and when I woke up this morning I could barely drag myself out of bed. The rest of the day has been spent pretty much repeating the same scenario over and over. I would nap for a few hours and then drag myself out of bed to check my email, or eat lunch, and the ordeal would be so incredibly exhausting I would have to go right back to bed and sleep for a few more hours to recover.

When I emailed my coworkers to let them know I wasn't coming in, one of them responded with a joking "are you sure you just haven't finished your Christmas shopping?" Ha - I wish that was all this was. Unfortunately, however, I suspect that if I'd tried to do anything as strenuous as, say, driving a car today, I likely would have made it to the store and passed out in the parking lot. This is just one of the reasons I am glad that we do most of our Christmas shopping online.

Tonight was the annual caroling party, and Richard noted at one point today that this should have come as no surprise, having both of us home on this day, sick and exhausted and sneezing. Tradition has it that one of us is always sick, thus rendering us unable to go join in the fun. This has been going on for years, so why stop now?

At 11:30 this evening, I woke up from yet another nap and felt as if something had finally changed. It is the first time all day that getting up does not feel as if it takes the same amount of energy as it might to run a marathon. I'm finding it a little amusing, in a desperate sort of way, that it took until I really *should* be sleeping for me to finally find the energy to remain awake and alert.

I suspect that this rare burst of energy will not last very long, but I am going to take advantage of it while it's here. There's a sink full of dirty dishes to deal with, and bills to pay, and one or two more Christmas cards to sign and address (assuming we can track down those addresses), and oh, some last minute Christmas knitting to finish, assuming I can get that far. There may be a few people who get unfinished presents or IOU's for the things I was hoping to make, considering that I have now lost two evenings to being sick (last night and all day today), but I think they'll understand. And I am keeping all fingers and toes crossed that being sick this early in the week means that by the time the weekend rolls around I will be completely better.

Happy Holidailies