Christmas week!
December 22
After school, C was so excited to use her presents from the day before.
December 23
Seeing I was busy, Amanda offered to take C on her errands. Somewhere they bumped into Santa and requests were made, though she'd already sent a letter.
December 24
Christmas Eve and I was out early on a gorgeous morning to get last minute groceries, some Christmas items and do a few returns. In all I made half a dozen stops. In and out of the car, walking the aisles of stores...it was the craziest, wonderful-est thing to be able to do that with not a lot of pain. And then back at home I still had energy to work in the kitchen. I was so happy and thankful!
In the evening, we joined our family for a very special service at our church. The decorations, the music, the message...so much time and love went into preparing a beautiful, sacred candlelight service. Various staff members and their families helped light the candles at the end; it was fun to see Nathanael and Tina, C4 and Kelly (+ Baby!!), and Jack's family (without Jack and Avery because he wasn't feeling well).
We were minus Shaun, who was driving shuttles all evening.
Then we headed to Amy and Colombo's for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and celebration of Jesus' birthday. There was excitement in the air and everyone was happy to be together.
The table scapes were beautiful and the food was bountiful and delicious. It was a lovely celebration!
Though only about 30 miles have separated us, our lives have looked very different. Throughout the weeks C was here, she and I were exchanging cultural experiences and working to understand each other. On this night, we shared different Christmas traditions: for the first time, she sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and, for the first time, we left cookies and milk and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer.
December 25
We've had several throughout the years and this was one of them...a both/and Christmas. It was happy and it was sad...both of those things were true at the same time. There was celebration and there was mourning...both, at the same time.
Life brought many changes this year...my uncle had a heart attack in July and has been on the recovery road since, Avery and Jack got married and Nathanael and Tina, too creating new families. And then just weeks ago, Maddy, Mason and Ezra left for their work halfway around the world.
It was enough that Amy and I (the founding members of the Christmas Committee) felt like it was the year to make some adjustments to the traditions we've held for many, many years. I *think* we made the right decision, but when it actually played out, much of the day was unrecognizable. The morning specifically was hard, but once we got to the afternoon when family started to arrive, some normalcy set in and it really was a nice day.
In the morning, C opened her gifts from Santa. Did we do it right?? I have no idea. If we ruined Christmas for her, it wasn't for lack of trying.
As soon as Amy and her gang arrived, Maddy facetimed, so we got to see Baby Ezra who was at the very end of her Christmas Day.
The sweetest little guy!!
It touched me how both our families thought to pull gifts together for C on such short notice.
The traditional gift swap remained! The kids love to figure out the clever codes and cryptic messages that help keep the giver secret and we can always count on some unique wrapping jobs.
Midway through, we paused when we found out Juliet was on her way. In December she finished her last credits to complete her Associates Degree and we wanted to recognize the accomplishment and celebrate her. We definitely surprised her!
Then it was back to the swap, the laughter, so much love and sweetness and familiarity. Life is full of changes, that's something we can count on. Some are hard, some are a relief. We lived through a bunch this year and yes, Christmas did look quite different this year, but I ended the day with a heart full of gratitude.
I spent a good part of the day playing with C and getting her packed up. It was so fun to have an 8-year old in the house for a couple weeks. We had lots of snuggles and stories and heart-to-hearts. She got to have some new experiences, meet some new people and have a safe landing place for a few weeks.
In the evening, the kids came over and we had our family Christmas time...fondue for dinner, stockings and presents. We've never done our Christmas after Christmas, but it was so relaxed and chill. It was delightful to see the effort that the kids had put into gifts and the joy they had in giving, especially to each other. It was a nice evening.
The next day we left for a getaway, so I'll include Saturday and Sunday with next week.
