A Wonderful Christmas

A Wonderful Christmas

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from our little family to your beautiful families.  Here is a picture of our Christmas Card.  I didn't send out very many this year, so please accept this as our card to you if you did not receive one.  Time and expenses made it difficult to send to everyone, because there are so many of you that mean so much to us.  Thanks to my sister, Holly, for taking the pictures and ordering the cards for me.  It was a huge help!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and we hope that you all did, too!  We have been able to spend a lot of time with family and friends.  It has been great to see everyone and spend time with those that we hold dear.  Santa Claus made it to our house, and the kids received many nice gifts from their Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents. Elizabeth did not like Christmas Day.  I feel that it was too over-stimulating for her, especially with her Sensory Processing Disorder.  She did not like all of the noise, confusion and excitement that her brother was expressing.  We tried to get her to open gifts, but she wanted nothing to do with that.  We opened gifts for her, showed them to her, but she was not interested in them.  In fact, she was not really interested in much of anything until the next day when most of the noise and confusion was over.  She has, since then, played with her gifts. 

Celtan, on the other hand, was super excited about Christmas.  He was WILD about Santa this year.  He could not wait for him to come, and we had a countdown going on our chalkboard in the kitchen. Each day we would cross off the numbers and counted down how many "sleeps" until Santa.  His elf delivered a letter from Santa to him, which said that Celtan was on the nice list.  Celtan showed it and told everyone that would listen about the letter and about him being on the nice list.  He was very excited when Santa visited Grandma Kepple's house on Sunday a few days before Christmas. It was fun for us to watch and enjoy his excitement.  The magic of Christmas is best viewed through the eyes of a child, and we certainly viewed that magic through Celtan's eyes this year.  He was so excited when he opened each present, and thanked Santa for all of his gifts by shouting "thank you" throughout the day in hopes that Santa would hear him.  It was great. 

We had the Hackwelder Family over to our house on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christmas with them.  It was a really nice time, and we enjoyed having them all here.  Eric and Sandy weren't able to make it. They stayed in Erie as their twins are still in the NICU at Hamot.  We missed them, but we were glad that they were spending the day with their little miracles.  We all miss Jason's mom, who passed away a few years ago.  This was our third Christmas without her.  It will never really be the same without her here with us, but I could tell she was with us on that day.  I was making my sister-in-law a cup of tea on Christmas Eve, and it reminded me of Jeanne.  I know that she is glad that we are continuing to spend holidays and other times together.  The kids had a great time opening gifts, playing with each other, and again we saw the magic of Christmas in their eyes.  My favorite part of the night was when Markel and Alex gave us all our gifts from them.  I always look forward to this part of the night.  This year, they gave me a pretty pink lip gloss and hairspray.  Jason got a fake knife and a zombie arm.  Chase and Sadie by far received the funniest gifts.  Chase was given a pair of dollar sign oversized glasses and a large candy cane.  Sadie was given a pink zebra hat.  We had a good time with that and took pictures of them in their pimped out gear.  We topped it off by putting  my fur coats on them and taking pictures.  We all got a good laugh out of it.  It was a great night spent together.

On Christmas Day, we opened gifts in the morning.  Jason made breakfast while Billy and I sat on the couch and shouted diner-style orders to him through Celtan's new music recorder's microphone.  I don't think Jason was very amused, but Billy and I got a good laugh out of it.  We love that Billy stays with us on Christmas Eve. It is nice to have him here with us.  After Billy left, we packed up and went to Chicora to spend the day with my parents, sisters and their families. It was another great day.  In fact, my parents surprised me with a new laptop, which I am typing on right now.  Our desktop computer and our laptop have both kicked the bucket, so it was a much needed gift.  My parents bought the girls matching Frozen couches, and they made the boys fort/ toy boxes with a giant tent that attaches to them.  Celtan has had a lot of fun with the tent part!  The toy box isn't quite finished, but we did bring the tent home.  The tent right now is attached to my curtain rod in the living room, and spreads out over our living room.  He is in his glory.  There is something about a boy and his tent. 

On Saturday, we had Christmas at the Kepple's.  It was a fun night.  I wrote my beloved cousins and sisters a letter, and I gave them all an item that once belonged to our Great-Grandma Wolford.  I've held onto these items for years, and I wanted to distribute them to all of the cousins. That way, we could all share a memory of her.  Celtan and Elizabeth were dressed up in their Christmas best. I was able to get a few pictures of them all dressed up. 

Right now, we are resting up and enjoying our time off together.  Celtan is playing with all of his toys.  Elizabeth is still recovering from the virus that struck her early last week.  She is getting better, but she still has a nasty cough.  This virus that is going around is not pleasant and so many people seem to have it.  Elizabeth will occasionally show interest in one of her toys.  We will continue to help her become interested in them.. haha! Plus, let's be honest, I like playing with all of the princess stuff.  ;-)

 Elizabeth pulled herself to a standing position in therapy the other day.  She is still very wobbly when she stands, and it will be a long time before she can stand independently without support, but watching her do that brought tears to my eyes.  She is making some gross motor progress lately, and it is great to watch her do these things. 

I would like to thank everyone that made our Christmas so special.  To all of our family and friends, we love you and cherish you more than you could imagine.  So many people have sent us lovely cards, dropped off items to us, and we have gotten a few donations for "Elizabeth's traveling fund."  Our secret angel sent us another card.  I have no clue who this person is, but we appreciate their generosity and thinking of us very much.  To all of you who have sent us food, money, gifts for the kids we are totally overwhelmed by your generosity.  I am trying to keep up on Thank you notes, but I feel as if I am forgetting someone.  We are so blessed to have such loving, caring and generous people in our lives. The gifts, love, prayers and support have helped us tremendously on this journey.  We are truly surrounded and wrapped in arms of love.  I reflected a lot over the holiday about how I have been gifted with a legacy of love from my family, and I have been given the same thing from all of you.  Thank you for being there for us. Thank you for being our brightest stars in a sky that sometimes seems very dim.  Thank you for all that you do, have given, and continue to give to us.  We sincerely love and appreciate you, and we hope that one day we may return the countless favors that you have extended to us.

We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas, and we wish you the most blessed and beautiful New Year!  Here are a few pictures of our Christmas: