{Secret Santa}

Today Santa's Elf sent us a surprise.

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But before I divulge the sweetness that envelope contained... let me give you some background on my day.  What a day.  I woke up with the same headache I had gone to bed with.  Unmistakable face pain that I knew meant a sinus infection. 5:30am, Jack & Logan are up and ready for breakfast. I can hardly sit upright, so Josh handled that and I called in sick to work. Yes, again... I managed to get myself dressed and drove to Urgency Care.  I was lucky to get right in, see a great doctor and get a Rx for said sinus infection.  The doctor recommended a Neti Pot, heat packs & lots of liquids along with the Rx.

I came home after that and took a nice, long shower. That helped some. Then I took a cozy two hour nap with the boys in our bed and after that Josh took them to his mom's to make gingerbread houses with their cousins.  He had gotten Logan out of the car, he was standing on the sidewalk, and Josh was unbuckling Jack when he heard Logan cough and turned around in time to see him vomit. Twice. No... We had flu shots. We had the flu! We should be done with this. Come on!

Josh immediately put the boys back in the car and drove home, where Logan threw up two more times and fell asleep on the couch.  That poor kid has been through more in the last three months... I know it could be worse, and I am grateful it's not, but it still breaks my heart. As he's puking in the bowl, he says between heaves, "It's yucky, mommy. I don't like it." Oh, I know, buddy. I know. Poor baby.

And on top of my being sick and Logan being sick, we found out yesterday that under our duplex, in the crawl space, there is about three inches of standing water. Hence the mold.  And so far, there is no game plan in place.  I don't know what they are going to do to fix it. Meanwhile, we are just in a holding pattern, alternating sleep between playpens, the couch & our bed. So there's that, kind of bubbling in the back of my mind, making me wonder if it's not why we've all been so sick.

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So tonight I was on the couch sitting next to Logan when I opened the mail. We've already had lots of Christmas letters- my favorite- and I love opening the mail.  One envelope was particularly thick and was the happiest shade of red.  I opened it excitedly and inside was a card that read "For a really special family" and was signed inside "Santa". 

And in that card was the most generous gesture, the most unexpected gift, the sweetest kindness I have been shown.  There were three gift cards. One for $25 to Sears for me to buy something for Josh; one for $25 to Barnes & Noble for Josh to buy me something; and one for $50 for us to buy gifts for Jack & Logan. I instantly started crying. The way that people have been reaching out to us, thinking of us, carrying us through these trying times, has just been overwhelming.  I feel so lucky. In spite of everything, I feel so blessed. 

And it's so amazing the gift cards they chose for Josh and I. If we could choose gift cards to any store, anywhere, in all of America, those are the two we would choose.  Josh loves tools- Hello Craftsman! And I love books- Hello Anita Shreve's newest release!

To whoever you are, Santa's Elf, thank you. Your thoughtfulness touched my heart, and has blessed my family. You have brought the magic back into our holiday season.  I will so enjoy picking out presents for the boys and my husband. Your gift will allow me to do so. That is priceless. I pray that God will bless you for the generosity you showed my family. 

Thank you, my friend, thank you.