The past few days.......

Thankful for:

Margaret's health, so thankful she is healthy enough to be home and with her family
Myah cheering up Grandma
The little girls in my life, constantly breathing laughter into my world.
Our first real tree!

The first snowfall on Thanksgiving morning

Our perfect tree and our special angel

Yesterday we decided to go and pick out our Christmas tree. We have never had a real tree before and I had said last year that I wanted to start that tradition for our family. This week has been so crazy, lots of riding in the car going back home (2 hour drive), busy helping with things for Grandma's funeral, and Thanksgiving. Also it has been such an emotional draining week for us. I suspect it will get worse come tomorrow when we have visitation. I really needed to get out of the house and so did the rest of my family. I usually have our tree up before Thanksgiving so we can enjoy the whole season and not have to worry about decorating. Dayton was really excited about picking out the perfect tree, we even had snow on the ground and it was very cold, very Christmas-ish weather. We went back to the same place that we bought our pumpkins at and were there the first day they opened for trees. They were so nice and helpful, the place was adorable, we were so glad that we chose this place, Mark and I both agreed that it will be our new family tradition to go there every year. They have a huge barn on the property and in the upstairs they have it all decked out for Santa. We missed him but still took a peak. We found a gorgeous Frasier Fir that was 8 feet tall, it was just what I had always imagined. I have never had a real tree my whole life because my sister Melanie was always allergic to them and would end up in the ER on Christmas due to not being able to breathe. We enjoyed putting the tree up in the house, Myah kept calling it the Christmas Treat. Big surprise there! Our hearts are in a different place right now but it felt good to be together as a family. Mark's funeral leave ran out today so he had to go back to work, he is training a new Lt and can't take the time off. He is able to get off at 3 tomorrow so he will join us up north around 5pm and then his normal day off is Monday so we won't have to worry about the schedule conflict the day of the funeral. Nothing can ever be simple for us. A few years ago Grandma bought us an angel for our tree, it was definately a "moment" for us as we placed her on top of our perfect tree last night. We can't help but think about Grandma every time we look at the tree. I spent the day today getting all of my ducks in a row, when I am upset or stressed, I clean, rearrange and organinze. I finished decorating the house so that when we come home from up north all of that will be done and we don't have to rush around trying to do it. Especially when we are exhausted. We managed to have a decent Thanksgiving, it was very evident that Grandma was missing this year, we sure missed her. We had a nice dinner at Phyllis and Lon's and then ate at my sister's later on. We were so blessed this year to have her mother in law Margaret with us. Last year she spent the majority of the year in the hosptial, she missed all of the holidays with us. For me that was the best part of the holiday, seeing her smile again while watching her little grandbabies dance around. Life does go on, through all of the ups and downs, God still shines his light and guides us through our days. He shows us miracles every day. Sometimes we just aren't looking for them. I am very grateful to all of you for your love and support, I can't tell you how much your messages meant to Mark and I, tears were streaming down both of our faces. I cried when I read his comment to me, his heart is breaking so badly right now. I hate seeing him in pain. He no longer has any living grandparents. Please continue to pray for us this week as we travel to pay our last respects to Grandma.
I also want to wish our brother in law Chris a Happy Birthday today!!! We love you!