Comfort and joy were hard to come by this year, however I did catch tiny glimpses of both.
In reminiscing with family, in long hugs, in the kids' pure excitement, in chocolate chip meringue cookies.
And in giving...even when our hearts were hurting.
It was there.
All of these things and much more are just glimpses of the promise that life will go on. My Dad will live on in us.
All of these things and much more are just glimpses of the promise that life will go on. My Dad will live on in us.
And we will have comfort and joy in abundance again.
To add to our mental reel of memories...a few things that kept us going this holiday season:
To add to our mental reel of memories...a few things that kept us going this holiday season:
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| Caroling. Singing their little Christmas hearts out :) |
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| Celebrating the birth of a King. |
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| The boys' vision for their fort coming to life. |
And then Christmas came...
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| Max's three gifts. wooden castle + dragon puppet, science experiments for my self-proclaimed "scientist" and a fireworks launcher. |
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| Sullivan's three gifts. Joinks and a marble run for my guy who loves building anything and everything and a wooden parking garage. |
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| Fletcher's three gifts. A sleeping bag for my little fox, magnetic truck/blocks and a classic carousel. |
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| Milo's three gifts. A moose rocker for "milo the moose", a spinning top and classic See & Say. |
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| Stockings Max - Explorer book, more "knights + dragons" for his castle, boat in a bottle Sully - Royals book, wooden ship puzzle, helicopter transformer |
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| Fletcher - alphabet book, take apart vehicles, road tape |
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| Milo - Peek a Boo card set and Dada book written by our favorite, Jimmy Fallon. I also threw in a few old baby toys I had in the basement...he didn't notice ;) |
Our group gift to the boys seems so basic, but its something they all love - COLORING! I bought them a giant roll of paper since we always run out and made them little individual coloring boxes. I included stamps and homemade crayons in each box.
Also, the book "I love you the purplest" is about a mom of boys (one even named Max!) and how she loves them equally, but differently. Plus people who know me well know that my favorite, favorite color ever is purple...so this book spoke to me on many levels :)
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| We had to wake these sleepy heads up! |
Merry, Murray Christmas.
I know this was a very difficult Christmas for you all. I'm glad that you found your peace and joy.
ReplyDeleteThis is comforting, Sara. I was thinking about you and the rest of your family all day on Christmas, and praying that you'd find comfort and joy in the holiday. Your dad would be so proud of you all. Can't wait to celebrate his life with you in a few days. Many hugs to you!
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