Holidays!

December 25, 2010

First Christmas without the whole family together at home. First Christmas without a tree in our house. Of course, don’t get me wrong, I would much rather us not have a tree this year, for many reasons- mostly because of the damn pine needles that would be left all over the house. Dad will be coming home eventually, and any remnants of pine (or any plant for that matter) would be bad.

Anyway, let’s face it- Christmas just is not the same this year. My poor Dad is spending it in the hospital. This has made Mom really upset. Last night, as I was leaving the hospital, I saw her get teary-eyed. When I asked her what was wrong, she managed to say “I’m sad. I want everyone together for Christmas.” So, while it’s not the same as everyone being at home like every other year, I am going up to the hospital with Ashley, Stacey, and my brother-in-law (Stacey’s husband), Brian. It’ll be a busy day- we’ll leave there around 4:00, I’ll quickly go to my Aunt Jill’s house, where my Mom’s side of the family is having Christmas dinner. I’ll have to leave by 6:30 at the latest to be back to see Dad at/by 7:00. I promised him I’d spend the “evening shift” with him, as he says it. Silly guy.  

Despite everything, I am, of course, still very, very thankful that Dad is here to spend it with us. Since he got diagnosed in August, there have been many scares and upsets. Thank God he has pulled through all of them. He’s a super tough fighter and he knows he has a lot to live for, so here’s hoping praying wishing and dreaming that he’ll continue to beat the fight.

Here’s to all the children waking up with grinning faces, knowing that Santa has not only left crumbs on a plate that was once full of cookies, but a ton of badass presents under the tree :-)