So we decided to get down all the Christmas decorations this weekend - Brad took about eight trips up to the attic until he found all the stuff we needed...you "Northerners" sure are lucky to have basements! Then Tate and I played around outside while Brad hung the Christmas lights - I had bare feet and short sleeves on - beat that, Northerners!!!
Once all the decorations were down, it began to sink in that we're going to have to celebrate without one of our sweet little boys. 
It was so difficult to look through all the ornaments from last year, remembering how much hope and excitement we had to meet the newest member of our family. Decorating the tree was so different than any other year.
We buy a special ornament each year for our children. As they get older, we'd like for each of them to have a small tree that has all their ornaments on it. Then when they are grown, they can take these ornaments and put them on their own trees. The little tree in the above picture is Nash's tree. We put it on our dining room table and decorated it with little bitty ornaments...like candy, and snowmen, and sports, and tractors...all the stuff I'm sure he would have loved. We decided that we'll put this one out for him each year.
As I was digging through one of the boxes I found our stockings. Five stockings. Me, Brad, Tate, Nash, and McCarney. Nash never even got to use his. I remember buying it last year, so excited to fill it with treats and toys this Christmas. We decided that we would still hang it - after all, he's still part of our family. Then on Christmas Day, we're going to put a bouquet of white flowers in it (a wonderful friend gave me this idea - thanks, Coleen!).
Now comes the task of writing our Christmas letter. How do I begin to do that??? Many people have told me not to worry about it this year; that people will understand if I forego the letter and take a year off. But I feel that it's something that I need to do. Even though we are trudging through this grief, we have so many reasons to rejoice and celebrate. I want to write a letter. Please pray that I will find the right words.
It was so difficult to look through all the ornaments from last year, remembering how much hope and excitement we had to meet the newest member of our family. Decorating the tree was so different than any other year. 
We buy a special ornament each year for our children. As they get older, we'd like for each of them to have a small tree that has all their ornaments on it. Then when they are grown, they can take these ornaments and put them on their own trees. The little tree in the above picture is Nash's tree. We put it on our dining room table and decorated it with little bitty ornaments...like candy, and snowmen, and sports, and tractors...all the stuff I'm sure he would have loved. We decided that we'll put this one out for him each year.
As I was digging through one of the boxes I found our stockings. Five stockings. Me, Brad, Tate, Nash, and McCarney. Nash never even got to use his. I remember buying it last year, so excited to fill it with treats and toys this Christmas. We decided that we would still hang it - after all, he's still part of our family. Then on Christmas Day, we're going to put a bouquet of white flowers in it (a wonderful friend gave me this idea - thanks, Coleen!). 
Now comes the task of writing our Christmas letter. How do I begin to do that??? Many people have told me not to worry about it this year; that people will understand if I forego the letter and take a year off. But I feel that it's something that I need to do. Even though we are trudging through this grief, we have so many reasons to rejoice and celebrate. I want to write a letter. Please pray that I will find the right words.On another note, here's something to make you smile. My mom introduced Tate to the following website... Enjoy!
Love to y'all!
Tracy
No comments:
Post a Comment