You don't usually spend Christmas Eve in the ER or at home panicking to get your child's temperature to go down. But we did. What can I say --we're rebels.
Both boys were sick so Jing and I had to divide our responsibilities. Although I was the one who saw Miro gripped with massive chills and a temperature that almost catapulted the mercury out of its thermometer casing (with his eyes rolling to the back of his head, for good measure), it was Jing who had to rush him to the ER. I had to stay home because Kenji's rollercoaster temp went up again as soon as he saw his big brother being half-carried/half-dragged out of the house. Can you even begin to imagine how cruel that Christmas Eve was?!
Half an hour before midnight, Jing and Miro came home.
We didn't have Noche Buena because I didn't get to cook anything. While everyone partied around us, we spent the whole night monitoring our children's health vitals as they slept uncomfortably. Sleep, for us parents, never happened --like it hasn't happened all week.
Early Christmas morning, the boys --both still feverish-- did get to open a handful of Christmas presents from their godparents. In the middle of it all, I felt bad that we couldn't have bought more presents before all this sickness happened! I felt bad that I allowed my children to have the suckiest Christmas ever!
But then, my boys' faces beamed with happiness as they unwrapped those 5 gifts. Those smiles were their first smiles in days! Those smiles simply washed away all the stress and kept the insanity that has been itching to consume us both at bay.
It may have been short lived and we may not be out of the woods yet. But Jing and I agreed --those smiles were the best presents us parents got this Christmas.
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