Sick on Christmas - I Could Use a Little Comfort and Joy!

Augusta, Ga. - I have what I think is strep throat, and I'm couching it for now. Reading "Hound of the Baskervilles" (which may never end) and drinking lots of Diet Coke. I mean orange juice! Yeah...

Emmie has been very sweet, asking me how I feel, sharing gentle smooches on my cheek, and bringing me little treats:

• An unwrapped cough drop that she found somewhere in the house, "so dat you not be coughing"
• A My Little Pony, still dripping wet from the bath, "so dat you not be lonely"
• Her soft, flannel Tinkerbell blanket, "so dat you not be cold"
• A cup of lemonade, filled to overflowing, and dripping all the way across the carpet from the kitchen to the couch, "so dat you not be firsty"
• A Christmas ornament, which she tried to insert into my ear piercing (ouch!), " so dat you be Chrissmass!"

Later, I'm going to drag my butt out of bed to make dang Santa cookies with her. But for now, I have to throw a crusty cough drop in the trash, get a towel for the pony and the lemonade, find a Band-Aid for my ear, and snuggle up in a Tinkerbell blanket with my Doodlebug to wait for Christmas.