Christmas Eve 2021

Christmas Eve came but it did not feel jolly. It was the first year ever to have all our immediate family together on Christmas and for that we were thankful. It was the first year that Mark’s parents came and we loved having them. It is a holiday that we normally love and say the more the merrier. One where Lisa is bouncing off the wall and as excited as a kid. This year though the stress of the last few months left us going through motions, feeling more blah than merry, and chemo had us wanting to protect Chris from germs more than ever. Yet we put on the happy face and so desired for the girls to have an amazing Christmas.

Lisa has always made Christmas magical for our girls. This year though was a struggle! She told Mimi earlier in the month that she needed help making Christmas magical since it just did not feel like magic or a happy season this year. Thankful Lisa starts shopping early and had most of it done before our world turned upside down. Thankful Mimi stepped up and did the last minute shopping needed to create some Christmas magic for our girls. Thankful that it was an off week from Chemo and Chris was having a good week.

The girls woke up on Christmas Eve excited. Ivy found our elves who had left a note to keep the Christmas Spirit alive all year; a good reminder to us all. Lisa fixed the girls pancakes and bacon then started the multiple breakfast preparations to get Chris to eat before getting herself and helping Chris get ready for the day. Getting out of the house is similar, if not more work than when we had infants. Nonetheless, we got the car loaded and headed to Mimi’s for our Christmas Eve tradition with extended family. It was important to Chris and Mimi for us not to lose the tradition but Lisa asked if we could do Christmas day here so we did not have to load up two days in a row.

We were the last to arrive this year. Everyone moved their cars so we could pull up closer to the swings and not have as far to walk; most of our family on this side knows how cancer goes after losing aunt Frieda and uncle Ronnie to the disease. We set up Chris’s chair outside. We missed the traditional pictures by the Christmas tree inside as Chris opted to remain outside in the fresh air for the day. Thankful for the warm day on Christmas Eve so we could be outside.

We snapped the big group picture outside then got a family pic too. Uncle Mark said our blessing then Lisa fixed Chris and her plate to carry it back out. Thankful the girls are old enough to do their own now. After we ate Lisa walked in for the kids to do their gifts to each other then we carried secret Santa outside to all enjoy it together. We enjoyed the game and sweet fellowship! After a few hours Chris’s energy was dropping so we headed home. Unfortunately, Lisa pulled her back getting everything moved into the house so we had to call some elves to come help the rest of the evening and took it as easy as possible.

Cupcake and Angel left a special note to keep Christmas spirit alive all year

We got a picture of the whole gang right when we got to Mimi’s

We missed most the family pictures by the tree this year but snapped ours outside. Thankful Stacy sent us pictures even though I do not think we got all of them