We made it through our first Christmas without Tom. It was still a great Christmas with lot's of wonderful things going on but, we sure missed him! The first strange thing was only having two piles of gifts under the tree and only two kids opening them Christmas morning. We had a wonderful surprise, though, that made both me and Dave cry... Emilee had gotten one of those Hallmark books that you can record yourself reading and she had Tom record himself reading the book. It was the most thoughtful, special gift we could have received and we both loved it! There's something about being able to hear a loved one's voice, when they are thousands of miles away, that just takes your breath away. We have the best daughter who always figures out how to come up with something amazingly special for us at Christmas!
Grandma and Grandpa Williams were there to share Christmas morning with us. We got to give them their new computer that was from the whole family and Grandma was surprised and really happy. Grandpa got surprised by some neat gifts from Grandma and he was happy, too. David was surprised by at least one gift (he picked out most of his other gifts) which was a membership to Gold's Gym for a year and both Emilee and David loved their new blankets (they have tons of blankets but can't get enough of them for some reason). Em got lots of new clothes and some boots, too. The kids spoiled us with itunes cards, slippers, scarfs, basketball shorts and new t-shirts for Dave. Toby helped unwrap gifts and earned the name "Shredder" from Grandpa because of his skill in taking care of the wrapping paper. It was really a wonderful morning for all of us. We did have Tom in our thoughts all day and we were wondering what he was doing.
We all went to church together, which was nice. There wasn't a big crowd at church, probably because a lot of people might be out of town on that day. Dave's bishop sporadically called on Dave to give a two minute talk, along with two other people. He did a great job and had both me and his mom crying (I seem to do that almost constantly lately). He thanked everyone for all of their help and support for Tom and getting him off on his mission. After church, I had lots and lots of hugs from mom's who know what we are going through. The love we feel from this neighborhood/church community is extremely powerful and overwhelming. I so much appreciate all of it and it has made the whole thing a little easier.
We came home and played a great game of Mess Up Your Neighbor, a really fun card game that David taught us. It is so much fun to get everyone playing cards! David is a fantastic score keeper and we just had a fun afternoon. That evening we went to my mom's for a wonderful dinner (of course!). My parents went overboard with their generosity and spoiled all of us rotten! Richard and Alexia came and it was really wonderful to have a little child around on Christmas, again! She had a lot of fun playing with the crazy dinosaur popper game - we probably had more fun just watching her!
The day made me thankful for a lot of things.... family, neighbors, good health, a roof over our heads and food on the table. We are so blessed and lucky to have all the we do have!
Crying is good for your soul and some how healing! Just think you only have one more to go! Hope you get another email soon! Sounds like you made it through...okay! Emilee is so thoughtful...now you can hear his voice everyday if you want too :)
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