Every day should be a holiday

Round 31: December 2034 (Summer)

last update/next update

James Novak is 59 and Madelyn is 54.

(Maia is 32, Aaron and Calvin are both 31, Ethan is 28 and Connor is 21)

Narrated by Madelyn Novak

Since his classes are finished now. Connor has been back in Sullivan helping James out at the car lot. He's mainly been doing the books though; Connor has no interest at all in sales.

Connor is temporarily staying with Ethan and Maia in their spare room, just until he gets a job, which he can't do until he officially graduates. James is paying him a fair wage at the car lot, so that's helping.

He's very confident of gaining a position in the SCIA next year once he does graduate though. Connor will graduate with a 4.0, so they should snap him right up. All our boys did really well at university but a 4.0 is just amazing! We're very proud of him.

Christmas is coming up and James and I are going to have all of our sons, plus Aaron's husband Calvin and Ethan's fiancée Maia over at our house for the day.

I've probably spent a little bit too much time and money decorating our house for Christmas this year. I did two trees, one upstairs and one downstairs and I had James hang lights in about half of our windows.

I enjoy it. It gives me a chance to be creative around the home, which I don't always get to do. There aren't many other excuses for redecorating.

James is humouring me, mostly but he did think the snowman candle I bought was a little ridiculous. I don't care though. I thought it was cute and fun.

Unfortunately, we didn't get much of a chance to enjoy our home at Christmas. James developed an awful cough a few days before.

By Christmas Eve, it had become clear he had the flu. James was exhausted, had no appetite and a high fever along with it.

I was so worried about him that I ended up waking him up and taking him to the emergency room.

I almost took James back home again when I saw how crowded it was but he was sick and I wanted him seen to.

The poor admissions nurse had her work cut out for her.

Finally though, James was admitted. James, of course, insisted it wasn't necessary.

Dr. Clarke disagreed, fortunately. She was glad I made him come in and said they would keep him at least overnight and try to bring down his fever.

So we both ended up spending the night in the hospital. I wasn't planning on it but I ended up dozing off in the chair and not waking up until morning.

James was feeling a little better the next day, so I said I'd check with a doctor to see if he could eat some breakfast in the cafeteria.

They were okay with that, though James still didn't have much of an appetite.

Still, he was looking so much better and it was a big improvement over the last few days.

Aaron, Ethan and Connor all visited James in hospital and stayed for a good while. Even though he was feeling better, hospital is still a pretty miserable place to spend Christmas and I think seeing the kids lifted his spirits a little.

We decided to save most of the exchanging of gifts for a time when we could all be at home but James got to open some books the kids got him.

It was a bit disappointing to not be able to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day but I like to think we made up for it when we all got together.

After all, we had plenty to celebrate, on top of James getting out of hospital. In just a week or so, Connor will be officially graduating from Suffolk University, with honours.

The very next day, Ethan and Maia will be getting married.

And then, if that wasn't enough, Aaron and Calvin used our late Christmas gathering to announce that in the new year, they're going to apply to adopt a child!

James and I are so excited for them. This might end up being quite a long process but Aaron and Calvin will be amazing parents! It's unbelievable to think that we might be grandparents sometime soon.

Notes:

• Title is from Every Day Should Be a Holiday by Dandy Warhols. I'm going to use this song as the title for all future Christmas updates. It's a fun song and I like getting it stuck in my head. ;)
• James was the last Sim to roll the flu ROS...and at Christmas no less! Poor guy. I thought it was quite fitting that a neat and organised man like James would have the flu for exactly 24 hours though. I infected him at 1pm and I got the pop-up about him being all better at the same time the next day!
• Aaron, Ethan and Connor all received a $2000 painting from their parents for Christmas. None of them are flush with cash, so they'll be selling them and buying things they need with the money.
• I have Aaron and Calvin moved into an actual house now, so I figured it's time for them to start a family! :D I can't wait to make them fathers.