What I learned this holiday weekend: If you wake up with a sore throat and feeling a bit “off,” spending the day in the presence of a live Christmas tree, two cats and a dog, and a nose-pickin’/hand-lickin’ toddler will inevitably give you the most disgusting Christmas gift of ‘em all: a nasty cold. Complete with a hacking cough, multiple sneezes, watery eyes, and a house littered with crumpled tissues, it’s the gift that keeps on giving! Sorry to all the relatives I greeted with my congested nose and “I’m sick” aim-for-the-shoulder kiss. I hope I didn’t pass my “gift” along to you!

I’m really bummed that I wasn’t feeling 100% during the holidays. I wanted to be fully present for my family, to experience Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with mindfulness, but when you’re sick it’s really hard to be “on.” My face was buried in a tissue for most of the time, and my watery eyes blurred my vision. Even worse, by the end of Christmas Day, I was losing my sense of taste! Thank goodness I got a “to-go” bag of my dad’s chocolate chip and butter cookies to enjoy later when my nose cleared up.

The really weird thing is that I kind of sensed this was coming. The night before Christmas Eve, I had dreamed that I was at my in-laws’ house as always, but things felt chaotic and out of order. In the dream, Bryan and I left their house before exchanging gifts, and I was so bummed that I couldn’t see everyone’s reactions as they opened their presents. Well, I must have psychic abilities, because that’s kind of what happened. Some new family members stopped by the house, including a 20-month-old girl and newborn baby. The toddler was all over the place, the baby (understandably) cried, the dog nearly choked to death on a spare rib, and it was nearly 9 p.m. (much later than usual) by the time we exchanged gifts. I just did not feel very Christmasy, and I had to escape into the bathroom for a few moments to have a pep talk with myself about not exuding my negative energy onto others.

Christmas Day was the full onslaught of The Cold. It’s probably good that I accidentally missed the Disney Christmas parade on TV because I didn’t need any wahhh-I-miss-Santa-Goofy tears on top of my already watery eyes. Bryan’s thoughtful gifts also gave me a little boost. Here’s the stash:

Clockwise from the upper right, we have:

• Phillies t-shirt. Somehow I lost my one and only ladies-style Phillies shirt this summer and had to resort to wearing plain old red shirts during my workplace’s Go Phillies! days. Either Bryan is very thoughtful or he was just tired of hearing me complain “Where the hell could my shirt have gone?!??!” every week and opening and closing every drawer in the bedroom 20 times.

• Model plane. No, I am not a 10-year-old boy. I am just a dorky girl who loves planes, especially Southwest jets (because they’re shiny and red and take us to Disney World). Bryan got me a simple snap-together plastic toy plane (it’s actually from Boeing!), the SeaWorld-Shamu model of the Southwest livery. We actually saw this fly over our neighborhood once; I may have gaped in child-like wonder.

• Cereal! Two “Crunch Lovers” packs of Kashi GoLean Crunch, because–as I have stated here before–I love cereal. My mom got me several boxes as well. My addiction is no joke.

• Starbucks Via. The best instant coffee out there and guaranteed to pull you out of that 3 p.m. slump.

• Mickey Mouse wine stopper and bottle opener. Because one day, everything in our kitchen will have a Mickey head on it.

• Victoria’s Secret underpants. Despite my love of toy planes and fascination with cereal, I do like to be Too Sexy once in a while. Bryan put the black-and-white pair on top because I do this hip movement thing every now and then that, according to Bryan, makes me look like a zebra stomping its leg.

• Spiny massage balls. Because before these, I resorted to a tennis ball to roll out the knots in my back. The little spikes on these guys stimulate the nerve endings, and they feel wonderful on the hands and feet, too!

• Framed Sheldon comic. This one made my heart melt because it’s such a relationship gift. Bryan e-mails me a comic every weekday at work (usually from this strip), and plus the subject of this particular comic is kind of an inside joke between me and him. Aaaaand he got it professionally framed!

• Stitch-as-Elvis ornament. Because we love Stitch and there’s nothing funnier than a blue monster dressed in a sequined jumpsuit.

• Chocolate-mint Mickey Mouse candle. A Disney Store exclusive! Even my stuffed-up nose could smell the wonders of this candy-like wax. I’m all about burning food-like candles (right now: vanilla mint), so this will most definitely make the living room smell like a confectionery.

• Vinylmation figures. An old-school Epcot one, and one from the Sea Creature collection…a lobster, of course!

Christmas afternoon/evening was spent at my parents’ house, where, again, I was not fully with it. However, I was overjoyed to see my 4-year-old cousin fully engaged in playing with the Melissa and Doug reusable sticker play kit I got him. He was so deliberate in deciding which animal should go in which scene!

Monday was the peak of The Cold, with me napping through most of Bryan’s father’s visit to our house but mustering the energy to get Indian food for lunch (nothing stops me from naan). I spent the greater part of that night nestled in the living room Poang chair, wrapped in a blanket, overdosing on Felicity episodes and Gertrude Hawk’s Reindeer Food.

a.k.a. chocolate peanut butter crack

I went into work yesterday morning but came home before lunch because I still didn’t feel well, plus staring at a computer monitor for more than 10 minutes made my eyes water. Instead, I enjoyed some Christmas colors:

Red

Green

Red is the Nano that got me through an afternoon walk, because as much as I wanted to pass out on the couch I also craved some fresh air. It started to rain the second I set out, but an umbrella and a podcast all about the secrets of Disney’s Animal Kingdom were suitable companions.

Green is my go-to drink when I’m feeling under the weather. I’ve had about four Animo MDs this week already: greens, carrot, orange, apple, kiwi, banana, and spirulina. Seriously, I go to Animo Juice before I ever pop a pill.

Later that evening, I felt compelled to do some yoga, something light and gentle. I started out doing a Yoga Journal podcast titled “Evening Sequence,” but it ended up being a bunch of hip openers; basically, every pose that causes me pain. However, I liked the teacher’s voice so I kept it playing and went about doing my own thing. There was something so calming and melodic about the teacher’s voice; even though I was doing different poses, I felt really present within myself. Or maybe it was the fake burning fireplace that had me captivated (yes, you can get “the fireplace” on Netflix instant!).

I notice some people take down their Christmas decorations the day after Christmas, which seems so abrupt to me! For all the stress and thought and hype and energy that goes into the holiday, the actual day itself feels like 3 minutes by comparison. I feel like the week between Christmas and New Year’s is the full expression of the holiday season, and I like seeing the decorations and lights linger a bit. I stopped at the bank yesterday and was kind of excited that they were still piping in Christmas music and offering candy canes instead of lollipops.

Having a few more days of soaking in the Christmas spirit may give me the presence I missed on the actual holiday!