Countdown to Christmas!

Countdown to Christmas! December 21, 2017

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 5:24 pm

Hey everyone! Christmas is right around the corner. It’s always a power-packed few days for us as we celebrate with 4 family gatherings. We kick things off on Saturday with my immediate family and then the Christmas keeps going through Christmas Day. The day after Christmas is also a family shopping day. Jeremy and I stopped buying each other Christmas presents years ago. Instead we spend a fun day together hunting for deals and getting the things we most hoped for during the holiday season. It’s not a traditional holiday tradition, but it’s one we love and look forward to each year.

I was grateful to get most of our Christmas shopping taken care of early this year. However, we had a few last minute gifts and food shopping that we wrapped up today. Tomorrow will be a big baking day as I prepare for the weekend. I also love seeing all the gifts wrapped, under the tree, looking all lovely. I know that kids love the “opening” part of presents, but I love the presentation part of presents. Wrapping gifts is one of my favorite things to do. In some small way, it’s expresses creativity and shows you care for another. I’m all about the small details and wrapping gifts to me a part of that.

Zoolights was one of two things I hoped to do with the kids this Christmas season. The other was Snowflake Lane. I was skeptical that we would pull off Snowflake Lane. Jeremy has been busy with the house and I’ve been massively under the weather due to a head cold and my eye issues. It seemed like it might not happen. But it did! Yesterday, we checked visiting Santa off the list as well as Snowflake Lane. Our nephew has been staying with us for the last week while his family packs and moves so we took Carson along on our adventure as well. We introduce the boys to the LEGO store, had dinner at Red Robin and then enjoyed the magic of Snowflake Lane. The kids loved the parade and music and they were truly in awe of the “snow”. It was a great experience and one that I’m glad we were able to fit into our countdown to Christmas.

On to the big news of today… I was able to get an appointment with an eye specialist. Today was my appointment. We arrived 5 minutes before the suggested arrival time and waited 45 minutes before getting called back. Then it was another almost 2 hours in the exam room seeing various people (nurses, an intern, the doctor)… They did two dye tests and one inflammation test where they had to irritate my eye in order to get it to water. Not painful, but not fun. I wouldn’t want to do it everyday. The verdict is that eyes are not infected. Not more than the average buggies that live in our eyes. My eyes, however, are inflamed which is the source of my discomfort. There are many reasons why my eyes might be inflamed. I don’t like that vague feeling of not being sure why, but we do know now why they are bothering me. The treatment for the inflammation is two kinds of artificial tears and a steroid drop. The steroids can cause eye damage if used too long so I have to go in to check my eyes again in two weeks to see how they are responding to the steroids. The doctor said that this treatment might take 6-12 months before my eyes go back to the baseline of “normal”. I was totally shocked when I heard that number. He started to say “6-12” and I was waiting for the word “weeks” to come out of his mouth. Nope. Months. Oh goodie. I’m hoping that isn’t the case though. Anyway, the bright side of this whole appointment and an entire morning spent at the eye doctor is I now know that I don’t need glasses. They did an eye exam and then they didn’t mention my vision after that. I would assume if I failed the exam, they would have brought that up as an issue to address. I’ve been on the fence for a while if I needed to go to the eye doctor and look into glasses, but apparently, I’m good.

Even though I didn’t walk out of the doctor’s office feeling awesome about the appointment, I am grateful to know that my vision is okay and that I’m not contagious. I’ve been living at an insane level of paranoia. I’ve been washing my pillow case and towels daily to make sure I wasn’t letting an infection fester in my laundry. I’ve been scared that I’ve been passing germs on to my family and infesting the house. I’ve been washing my hands about every 5 minutes. I’ve been scared to touch my eyes. Now I know that I don’t have to be so concerned with spreading this issue. It’s a big relief to me to know that I’m not contagious and a threat to my family.

While I am still getting over a bad cold and living on Dayquil, I am thankful for the family fun that we’ve been able to have. I am hoping that once I kick this cold bug and get into the habit of doing my eye drops, I’ll start to feel more like myself again. Especially heading into a weekend of celebrating, now would be a great time to get back on my feet and re-enter normal life. I am hopeful. I can dream. No matter what I remind myself that I have so much to be thankful for. Despite the stress and illness, God is good. He is with me. He is for me. I have all that I need. Thank you, Jesus!