Christmas brings many joys for my family. And this year was no different at all!
It all started for my family the weekend before Christmas. I live in Vegas, and my family is in Ohio. On Saturday I got a call from my sister while I was at the kids Christmas party for my husbands squadron. I dismissed the call (you know how you just push that little button, and plan on calling the person back when you are done). The call ended, then the phone rang again. Now, you are probably wondering why I didn’t just turn the ringer off? I thought I did, but because this is a new phone, I now know it doesn’t work like my old one did! So, I dismissed the call again. The third time in less than 2 minutes of my sister calling, I knew that it must be important. “Mom and Mama (grandma) were in an accident and the car is totalled, they are on their way to emergency room, I will call you later to let you know how bad things are after they are evaluated”. She had just left the scene and it was bad. She did not see my grandmother but from a distance and barely saw my mom.
Everything turned out ok, and they both were able to leave the hospital several hours and tests later. Not bad at all considering that my grandmother is 86 and they believe the car is totalled!
The next afternoon (Sunday) I get another call from my sister. “I haven’t talked with Mom yet, so if she calls you pretend you don’t know anything. The nursing home called and wants us there immediately, they don’t know….. His BP is 80 over 50, and that is after they are able to get him moving a little. I haven’t been able to get Mom yet, and the nursing home hasn’t been able to reach her at all”. When they finally got there his BP was up to 90 over 60. Turned out that he was dehydrated, and they needed to get some fluids in him. They stayed with him all day, and he did very good the rest of the day. And is still doing good!
We had 2 very close calls that weekend, and really it just turned out to be… Just not in God’s timing. I am thankful, cause I just don’t know how I would have handled all of that happening within a day of each other, and getting there from here. I of course was upset by the phone calls, who wouldn’t be. You are so far away, and in NO control of anything, and then having to try to explain to your children what is going on, because they can see that you are upset.
So, then we jump ahead to Christmas. My grandfather, is feisty as ever. My sister said that when they went to visit him he was being very feisty. Which, if you knew him when he was of sound mind… you would know that wow… he could be a real one. I could not imagine him as a child, but guess what….. they are getting to experience a 85 year old man acting as an obstinate 2 year old right now, throwing his temper fits. The things he does, makes you smile or laugh, but also makes you so sad. I know that this is probably our last year with him. Or maybe I should say that this last summer was my last time with him. but I am glad I had that time with him!
For Christmas, I am so thankful, that everyone in my family is still safe and sound. That my kids are happy and healthy! They had such great fun opening all their gifts and toys. Nothing like a 3 year old finding her 1st bike in the middle of the living room, and jumping right on! Then Jaden got a free standing bag, to practice his Taekwondo with. And babies for the 2 year old. I have had so much fun this year just watching them enjoy everything! The smiles, the laughter the pure enjoyment!
I hate being so far away from our families over the holidays, but am so thankful for phones to let me know that although things could have gone terribly wrong, everything went extremely well! Can you imagine how they did it, even 50 years ago, when people really couldn’t even afford to call home for 5 minutes to talk? And here we are with our little mobile phones, calling on every little note. I know I am blessed each and every day, to have my family at the end of my finger tips, just a few numbers away!
I had a wonderful Christmas with my family and some friends! We went to some friends house the other night, and the kids were able to play, while all the adults were able to socialize (wow was that different for me!). And then for Christmas day, my dear friend who is now stationed in Hawaii, her parents are here, so we called and had them come over to the house for our dinner. I am so happy that the Military life has given us the opportunities to meet so many people, that we can share in everything even when we are missing it with our blood family.
All in all, I had a wonderful Christmas, I hope that you all had a blessed Christmas with lots of joys, and the ending of this year brings you many more memories to share, and that this next New Year will bring you nothing but LOVE, JOY, and MUCH PEACE.