Gratitude

When I reflect back on last Christmas I barely remember the majority of it. I was simply going through the motions. After suffering the two greatest losses of my entire life in less than 5 months, I felt like a hollow shell of my normal self.

This year is a quite the opposite. We are overjoyed to have this wonderful little girl in our life. At the same time, we take time to remember her sister during this Christmas season. As a way to include her in our family traditions going forward, we decided that each year we will get an angel ornament in her honor. So without further adieu, I bring you the ornament for this year.

This year our tree has also gained 3 new ornaments that belong to Lauren.

We love all of the ornaments especially this one. This ornament is identical to an ornament we were given in honor of Megan Grace last year. They hang beside each other on the tree just as we hold each of them close in our hearts.

This one is a gift I received this year as part of an ornament swap. I love that it is personalized with her name.

Finally, a gift from a friend in honor of one of my other loves. Go Pirates!

Each year as I put up my tree, each of the ornaments serves as some sort of reminder. A person, a trip, or a some other special memory. Decorating our tree each year is such a special time because it never fails to make me smile when I think of what each ornament represents.

Another thing we look forward to each year is the Christmas Cards we receive from friends and family both near and far. This year it seems that all of the cards are flat picture cards so this weekend after I realized this refrigerator doors were full I decided to move them to the french doors of the office. Aren't they pretty?

This year I am just so grateful to finally be joyful again after battling such a difficult year last year. We could not have done it without all of you as we trudged through what was in many ways the worst year of our lives to date.

Merry Christmas to all of you,

The Lavinders