Reindeer Flu December 15, 2009
Posted by Dan R. Dick in Christmas, Personal Reflection.Tags: Christmas
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Any unexpected December illness in our household growing up was referred to as reindeer flu… and I’ve got it. Complete physical meltdown over the past 72 hours. Fever, chills, explosive expulsions out every orifice, aches, pains, moaning, cough, congestion… you name it, I got it. Now I am sitting in my office sweating like a proverbial pig, feeling nauseous and queasy, wondering how in the world I ever convinced myself that I am well enough to go back to work, but also cognizant of the fact that I have a ton of work piling up if I stay home. There is no good time for reindeer flu.
I remember the year I got it on December 23. I was pastoring the Wantage United Methodist Church in New Jersey. We held two Christmas Eve services — one at 7:30 and one at 11:00. At 5:00, I was running a 104° temperature and could hardly stand up. I bundled myself up and trudged off to the church. Of course, no one had shown up that day to heat up the furnace or clear the walkways, so I did. At about 6:00 I got a call that the couple coming to light the luminaries were delayed, so I headed back out into the blowing sleet to light a hundred candles sitting in sand in little white bags. For everyone I lit successfully, two went out and another caught the bag on fire. Somehow we got through the service — which was mostly our children’s Sunday school classes singing and reading scripture.
