No Pink Eye for Christmas, and Other Tiny Miracles

Christmas is without question my favorite day of the year. All season is really my favorite. I can't get enough of the sights and sounds. I'm in awe each year of the transforming power of this holiday in the hearts of all of us; everywhere I look, I see demonstrations of unselfish kindness and increased tolerance and grace, the result of what can only be the pure love of Christ, manifested in mere mortals. Even in the midst of the tremendous pain and suffering, fear and doubt, hurt and anguish that is life, we are each transformed at Christmas. This year a friend of mine decided to help two families who are struggling to make ends meet. She single-handedly collected enough donations to provide each family with groceries for Christmas dinner, some presents, and cash to pay utility bills and prevent shut-offs. I am honored to have been one of many, many who was able to assist her in this effort.

For six weeks, Christmas music plays almost constantly on my car radio and also in our home, which we decorate with love just after Thanksgiving. As the carol goes, "Christmas is my favorite time of the year." So you can only imagine my dismay when on December 23rd, I developed an allergic reaction (to who knows what?), resulting in a horrible case of conjunctivitis, aka pink eye. It began during Relief Society that morning and continued to worsen through the day. Christmas Eve, I awoke to a swollen, red eye, oozing and sore. I spent most of the day like this:

It was quiet here. Gerald and Isaiah had to work all afternoon and evening. Shulamith spent part of the day visiting Mathew's family, and by the time she got home at 3:30, she was stuck doing all the last-minute running around that I should have done that day. There was no way I could have driven, especially in the bright snow that blanketed the city. So Shulamith handed me Swen (my eye condition was an allergic reaction, so not contagious), who promptly fell asleep, and I lay in this chair and continued to ice my very sore eye while he napped across my chest. She ran all the Christmas errands by herself, including picking up Chinese dinner for everyone. Gerald and Isaiah were home by 6:00, and Matt was off work a couple hours later. Everyone was in full celebratory mood; I was just as you see above. In pain. It was so sad.

I took an antihistamine and some ibuprofen and went to bed, my bag of frozen corn on my nightstand. And sometime in the night, I awoke to a tiny Christmas miracle. My eye wasn't throbbing. For a second, I didn't believe it. I could touch my eyelid without pain. It was still goopy and red, but it didn't hurt. I got up just to make sure I wasn't imagining it. Gratitude enveloped me. I was so thankful I would not be in pain all Christmas day. And so I wasn't. My eye was still not normal; even today it isn't quite back to normal. But it was way, way better.

We gathered around 9:00, ate breakfast, and began opening gifts, knowing we would be gloriously interrupted at 10:30 to Skype with Eli from Memphis, where he is currently serving. I could barely contain my excitement.

Coming down the stairs for presents!

The Webster-Monson Family on Swen's 1st Christmas

The highlight of our day: Skype with Elder Webster!

Mom and Seth

We spent the rest of the day eating good food (well, not healthy-good, but delicious), listening to Christmas music, enjoying family time together. Okay, I'm lying. A little. That's what some of us did. There are those in the family who promptly escaped to Seth's room to engage in intense video-game playing. What can I say? It's a disease. Before we knew it, it was 6:30 and time to leave for the movie.

No pink eye for Christmas. My tiny, but perfect, Christmas miracle!

(Christmas, 2012 - Part 2 of 3)