A Very Merry Christmas Eve

The hospital is an emotional place for me. I haven't spent as much time as a lot of other Menke's parents, but I've spent more than I've wanted to- especially this month. On December 1st, I was determined to make this the best month of Christmas cheer as possible. The future is so fragile and unknown that I wanted Ethan and Ella to remember this Christmas for the rest of their lives. I don't want them to remember what gifts Santa brought them, I want them to remember the feeling they had surrounding this Christmas. Going to the NIH ended up taking us away from the kids longer than we expected which slowed me down with the Christmas cheer. Again with Cannon's surgery I have found myself putting Christmas on the back burner. Yesterday we were eating fast-food at a burger place. I asked the kids if they were excited about Christmas Eve being tomorrow and Ethan said, "Oh yeah! I forgot. No one seems to be excited about it- it just seems like another day." My heart broke! That is not acceptable. That comment made me more anxious than ever to get my family home and cuddled up under our Christmas tree doing Christmas activities. This morning we packed up our car and pointed ourselves home. We ordered pizza, made cookies, put on our Christmas pajamas and watched a Christmas show. It was exactly what we all needed. Gary and Katie Martin stopped by and brought with them some Christmas cheer, it reminded me of just how happy I am to be home. Along with the cheer, they brought us some Welch's Sparkling Cider made from the grapes in their vineyard! Yumm. We all had a glass (or two).

Then we had a family game of Candyland with real candy so if you landed on it, you were able to eat the coordinating candy.

As we were getting ready to read the account of Jesus' birth from the Bible, we heard some singing in our front yard. We gathered as a family and opened the door to see this:

The most beautiful group of carolers I had ever seen. Some faces I knew and some I didn't (Derek Weaver's family was visiting from out of state,wasn't that nice of them to come sing to strangers on their Christmas Eve?) but I could feel the love from all of them. Reagran's family revealed they were our Christmas Ghost that has been delivering Christmas cheer to us. We really missed it while we were gone. As they sang Christmas songs and passed out even more gifts, we were so happy to be thought of in such a loving way. The carols concluded with a hymn called "Families Can Be Together Forever."

Here are the lyrics:

"I have a family here on Earth

They are so good to me

I want to share my life with them through all Eternity

Families Can Be Together Forever

Through Heavenly Father's Plan

I Always Want to Be with My Own Family

And the Lord Has shown me how I can

The Lord Has shown me how I can."

These words hit Kent and I so deeply, as with what we are facing, we are so thankful that we can live forever as a family. As I described, my little family has been on an up and down roller coaster, trying to focus on Christmas but having some bumps along the way. Returning to our comfortable home, being greeted and loved my wonderful friends as close as family rushed the Christmas spirit into our hearts. We are so thankful for angels in our lives that remind us of the true meaning of Christmas. Thank you for all you do.

We finished our Christmas Eve traditions with the nativity scene. Ella was so excited to be in "a play". Who doesn't just love a Mary and Joseph that took a unicorn to Bethlehem? Yes, that is a sparkling cider mustache you see on Mary. Nonetheless, it was a happy and spiritual night that perfectly set the mood for Christmas morning.