As one who does not regularly fall ill, (the last time was when we lived in Dubai back in 2005), it's poleaxed me. J's mum was sick when she stayed with us at the beginning of Dec; then J went down with it; and then we travelled to and from Germany in trains and planes full of people with coughs and sneezes, so I guess that it was long overdue, and hopefully this will top-up my resistance levels for at least another 5 years to come.
Another thing, that I guess did not help, was having to do a lot of this:
We felt like our whole week with J's family was spent shovelling snow from pavements and carparks, or walking the family dogs through knee-high snow in the fields above the house.
At least Bonnie, (the youngest of the 3 family dogs), had fun and we provided her with some extra exercise and diversion.
It was extremely beautiful, and very cold; around -10degC on average. As the air was dry, I didn't have any problems with my Canon 5D2 fogging up, and it behaved perfectly. I did manage to get a few good shots under grey skies, but my fingertips just about broke off with the cold, as I would have to remove my gloves to adjust the camera settings.
We were lucky during one walk when the sun dipped below the cloud cover and shone blood red, before setting for the evening.
It was our first white Christmas where it actually snowed most days, and J's family was happy that we made the effort to get there, so I guess that it was all worthwhile.
Ask me again in a few days' time when I start to, once more, feel human.