Christmas in Nashville (Part Three) - Christmas Day

Christmas morning came and we had three little munchkins super excited to go see what was under the tree!  Unfortunately, Daddy wasn't feeling so good....so I sat on my Mom's steps with the kids and told them the Christmas story..... 4 times....trying to stall so Daddy could get downstairs and be there while they opened gifts.  He made it..... but barely made it through them opening everything before he felt like he was going to be sick again! :-(    But the kids were oblivious and they had a great morning!!   They got their gift from Santa and opened their gifts from us and each other and their stockings!   I LOVE how they are so excited with everything!!

We were going to wait until after lunch to head over to Dan's parents house but since he wasn't feeling good we went ahead and packed up and got over there so he could rest....and rest he did.....he didn't wake up until the next day! :-)

We got to Nana and Papaw's house around 11am and we just relaxed and opened presents throughout the day.   Unfortunately since Dan was sick and I didn't have any free hands during the unwrapping and taking things out of the box I didn't get any pictures during the process....but my father in law did, so here are some of his.

                    They all got awesome puppets and we have puppet shows many times a week now!

                      The boys and their tonka trucks!

              Opening up Stars Wars Legos

                   playing Marble Race

                                        Just hanging out!!

Later that day this is how I found my kids.....

                      
                 AND we enjoyed a beautiful White Christmas!!

               Dan felt much better the next morning and we spent another day being lazy in our pjs and having great family time!

                                  Aunt Jennifer helping Bella with her new Leapster game!

                     Aunt Erika watching a movie

                           Will and his buddy Easton....this boy LOVES dogs!!!

We are so blessed to have 2 amazing families that love us and love our kids!!! 
 On a personal note this Christmas was one of personal growth for me.  As much as I love Christmas and celebrating, there's a little part of me that always feels like something is missing.  If I was to be totally honest, I thought the first Christmas without Dad was going to be the hardest....but for me it was this Christmas.  I think the first Christmas I was still in the denial, anger, guilt phases of grief, but this Christmas the hard part was realizing that all of our traditions and favorite things about Christmas were still being done but that they would never be the same and for me to have expectations of it to be like it was "before" is wrong.  I guess that's one of the big parts of dealing with grief is letting go of the dreams and expectations that were left unfulfilled when your loved one dies and deciding to CHOOSE to create new ones and move forward.  Not in an effort to try to forget your loved one, but because our life is ultimately not ours, but Christ's.....my heartbreaking loss cannot be THE EVENT of my life.  My heartbreak was just a milestone in the story of my life....written by the greatest Author and I will choose to trust Him to write it..... because regardless of any circumstances in the story, the ending is still GREAT!  So, while I'll always miss my daddy, I have resolved to let go of my expectations regarding holidays and traditions, etc....and to just enjoy!  Here's to looking forward! I'm giving it my best shot!  :-)