Merry Christmas

Whew! I'm tired. It's been a constant round of festivities since Friday. But this has been a very special Christmas. We knew it would be one of the hardest because Nannie is gone. None of us could imagine Christmas without her. And it wasn't the same. It was also hard with the lingering thought of chemotherapy coming tomorrow. It's been a hard year, no doubt. But a time like this is one in which I think all of us were mindful of all we have to be thankful for.

We enjoyed yesterday at home (mostly) as a family. Leslie ran a couple of errands in the morning and I ran a couple in the afternoon. Mine included getting some firewood in hopes of surprising Leslie with a Christmas Eve fire. She's been wanting to have one and we've never burned a fire in our fireplace. I found a couple in Murrayville who were open on Christmas Eve and bought a few sticks from them. I should have sprung for the cured wood that had never been outside, but I was being cheap. So later that evening when I tried to start a fire, I ended up burning mostly newspaper. All the kindling I gathered from the yard was still wet from the recent rain. It was pretty while it lasted and Leslie was excited about it.

We gathered around the tree and the kids opened a couple of presents "from us," which included a toy and pajamas. They were thrilled and of course the girls wanted to wear them immediately. We let them all sleep together in the same room since it was Christmas Eve, thinking they might all sleep better. McGrooter took the top bunk, Aggie the lower, and Munch was in the sleeping bag on the floor. It was quite a while before they were all asleep. You could feel the excitement! Les and I finally were able to get things set up in the living room. McGrooter had left a couple of notes on the tree for Santa, so I had to write answers to his questions. He asked what Santa looked like and how he was "able to see in all that darkness." I explained to him in my response that Rudolph's nose was pretty bright, to which he responded this morning, "Oh, I didn't know Rudolph was real."

McGrooter got up several times during the night wanting to know if Santa had come. At one point I realized I had a wonderful headache (which lasted all day). I assume it was from trying to get the fire started (and breathing in all that smoke). We finally got up just before 7 and headed out to the living room. The kids were excited and that, of course, excited us. We ate breakfast and played with new toys until about noon when we got ready to head over to Leslie's folks. We spent the rest of the day there with them. We had a wonderful meal and then opened presents for well over an hour. Unfortuantely, Poppie was still not feeling well and wasn't able to be with us. Mike videoed the festivities to show him later, but it just wasn't the same without him there. Afterward, everyone played and visited, and I laid down for what was supposed to be ten minutes. I felt a little better when I awoke. I left about 7:30 to head home and put blankets and PJs in the dryer so they'd be ready for the kids. I brought McGrooter with me and Les was supposed to come behind me shortly after with the girls. It's now 10:05 and I just heard the garage door open. Guess we'll have some tired pups!

Leslie heads in for an 8:30 AM chemo appointment in the morning. Back to reality I guess. But she's had the best round, in my opinion, this last time. I'm really thankful for that. We have been able to enjoy Christmas much more than I imagined we would this year. And as hard as things are right now, I think we probably have a better perspective than we have ever had in life. I guess this is growing up.

To all of our friends and family who have continued to keep up with us and pray for us, thank you! And Merry Christmas to you and your family. We are especially thankful for the new relationships, the deepened relationships and the renewed relationships this year. Things that mattered so much to us a year ago have faded away in many respects. Relationships have come to matter so much more.