Well. Merry Christmas! So far we've just given up on traditions. No Christmas cookies. No waiting at the top of the stairs till all the kids are ready and my dad videotaping our reactions. No homemade cinnamon buns. It's just one of those years since we're all busy and working and getting old. But there's some traditions I'm truly thankful are over. I'm thankful that this year I didnt wake up and change my grandmom's wet diaper. I'm thankful that my dad didn't have to carry her down the stairs to watch the kids open presents. I'm thankful I didn't have to puree her Christmas dinner. No more sorrow. No more pain. And I'm thankful that I'm truly not emotional about her not being here this year. The Lord is gracious and good to me. I can't miss her being here because the trauma of watching an old Christmas video and hearing her complain about how she needed to be moved cause she was sitting on something, when really it was just her out of joint hip bone bothering her. I hate it. I hate that she was in pain. I hate that she was uncomfortable. So I'd never wish for that again. I'm glad it's over. I'm thankful for the time with her. I'm so so thankful for good Christmas memories because Jesus gave us so many. But I'm more thankful that she's in eternal glory celebrating Jesus' birth with Him.I'm so thankful Jesus took on flesh so that I have that hope of seeing her again, in a resurrected body. He came and suffered so that He could be that great High Priest who sympathized with all her weakness. He died so that she's have life. Praise the Lord for that thrill of hope that causes a weary world to rejoice!

This is my grandmom's tree from last year. I bought it for her and put it in her room and decorated it for her. I hung all the Christmas cards in her room and hung lights around her mirror. And a couple weeks later we all sat in that room and watched her pass into eternity. I'm so glad. We planted it and a couple weeks ago my friends/coworkers and I dug it up and put it in a pot and decorated it. It's crooked and brown and saggy. And I love it.