How to lose the holiday pounds in a hurry...

...come down with the stomach flu and eat nothing but a little bit of chicken noodle soup and a few pieces of toast for the next 48 hours.

To tell it from the beginning, the holiday week was great -- hectic but great. We spent 2 days in Montreal (from Dec. 24 to Dec. 26) to be with my family, and then a day and a half at home before heading to London from Dec. 28-31 to spend Christmas with Ryan's dad and mom.

It was a solid week of present opening and eating. Over the week, we had two turkey dinners and more desserts than I care to count. But it's all part of the holiday cheer, and I love it.

Then came New Year's Eve.

The plan was for Ryan, Austin and I to have breakfast with friends in London that morning, before packing up the SUV and heading back to Toronto in the early afternoon. Ryan and I were going to put Austin to bed, order a pizza, open a bottle of wine and curl up on the couch to watch TV -- or maybe a movie. Sounded to us like a really nice, relaxing New Year's Eve after a very hectic Christmas week.

Then I changed the plans. At 2:30 a.m., I came down with the flu -- having likely picked it up from Ryan's sister, since she came down with it 12 hours earlier. Less than 30 minutes after I made my first mad dash to the bathroom early that morning, Ryan's other sister was doing the same. The entire day was spent lying in bed, alternating between sleeping and feeling sorry for myself -- and coming to the conclusion that there was no way we were making it home that day. That afternoon, Graham (Ryan's mom's partner) succumbed as well -- and Austin started showing symptoms. We definitely weren't going anywhere.

So New Year's Eve played out as follows: Austin went to bed around 7:30 p.m. and the whole family lounged in the family room watching TV for awhile. By 8:30, Graham and Ryan's mom headed upstairs to bed. By 10, Ryan's two sisters called it a night. By 10:30, I couldn't do it anymore and dragged myself downstairs to bed. And poor Ryan, healthy as can be, stayed up by himself until 12:01. I do remember him coming down to bed -- I woke up as he came in -- and kissing me for New Year's, but I was dead to the world again before he even managed to crawl into bed.

Some night eh? Sigh. It's the first time I've missed midnight on New Year's Eve since I was a kid.

On New Year's Day, we managed to get out of London around 1 p.m. and although nauseous me found the car ride rough, we made it home without having to stop.

So now it's Jan. 2 and I'm starting to feel like a human being again. It was only two days, but it feels like I was down and out for two weeks. But hey, as I said, in two days, I managed to drop a few unneeded pounds, so call it a step towards achieving my new year's resolution goal. (To get rid of these last few baby weight pounds)

And lucky Ryan, with his immune system of steel, has yet to get sick.

So, Happy New Year. Here's to spending more time with friends, more time relaxing at home with Ryan and Austin and to less time being sick.