Thanksgiving 2011 at Cottonham (this is the name of Chris’ family farm)

Do you notice all the cotton in the field?

Well, I must admit that I was a little apprehensive about going this year, because the week leading up the day we were to leave was a bit rough as far as the kids health goes. Mason threw up on Sunday, Buie and I were sick on Monday, Celie threw up and had a fever on Tuesday and we were to leave on Wednesday morning and return on Friday. The night before we left I said to myself (and maybe out loud) that I was going to take Celie to the Dr on the way out of town just in case she really was sick. Well, once we paced the car and the kids were so excited to leave, she said she felt better, so I believed her and we went on our way. 4 hours later, thanks to traffic, we arrived and the boys we all ready to hunting with daddy, while Celie and I stayed behind. This is when her “feeling better” all went out the window. She was feverish and clingy until bed time and fell asleep in my lap while we sat out by the fire. So we put her to bed (she was so exhausted with no nap and not feeling well) and Chris and I finally decided to retire around 11pm. Did I mention we were sleeping in the same room as Celie and Buie? So not long after we started to fall asleep, she woke up crying which is very unusual for her, so we put her in bed with us. Here starts the misery, she was roasting from her fever, so we gave her more meds hoping they would help her feel better and be able to get some sleep. Well, no! She was delirious, talking gibberish and tossing and turning, so Chris nor I got any sleep. Chris up and left me to “go hunting” at 5am. I think he just wanted an out and went and took a nap in the tree stand:) Between Buie coughing and Celie crying, I think the only sleep I got was from 6:45-8:15am. Better than nothing I guess. So now we are on Thanksgiving day and Celie is just a mess. Kelly helped me try and keep giving her medicine (which she normally tries to sneak and take at our house, she loves it so much), but she would have nothing to do with them. It was such a beautiful day, all of Susan’s family was there, we had a jumpy slide they rented, hay ride, tire swing, cooking mudpies, cornhole game, kick ball all to be had, but oh no, Celie didn’t even want to go outside. Finally after her nap Kelly called in a prescription and we found the only open pharmacy in Statesboro on Thanksgiving day. I would have driven back to Atlanta to get it if I had to. She was that bad. Well, I forgot to mention that Buie was not feeling well either, he had a fever and threw up his lunch and was coughing up a storm. Some how he did not get as much attention as Celie got, but about a couple hours after we got amoxicillin in them they were new children. What a relief. Celie would actually run around without me right next to her or holding her and Buie was laughing and playing. 

It was a rough day and thanks to Grandma and her helpers for do all the food, I didn’t have to do anything except focus on Celie and sometimes Buie (Chris had him most of the time). The meal was delicious and amazing to watch how those women can organize a group of over 30 people to eat a wonderfully warm meal. I still don’t know how they do it all. Thanks to everyone that helped through those rough days down at Cottonham. The kids are finally feeling and acting like themselves again.