This year was Dax's first "walking" Christmas. Last year was so much fun watching him enjoy the lights, sounds, and smells of his first gift wrapped holiday. This year- oh, this year- he got to participate in the excitement of placing special ornaments on the tree (and taking them off and putting them back on... a few different times), singing nostalgic songs that make it truly feel like Christmas, baking cookies and arranging them on a special plate with a glass of cold milk, and ripping up carefully taped paper to reveal new treasures. This year Dax really 'got' Christmas. As fun as it was to get to experience all of these traditions with our boy, it was a different kind of Christmas for our families as we continue to deal with the grief of losing grandparents. Happy moments filled with joy held the weight of what it could have been; should have been. A few sad tears fell. The sadness did not last long, and we spent more time recounting happy memories and making plenty of new ones. Below are some of our favorite moments over the holiday season:
As a new year stretches before us, let's be kinder. Let's love intentionally. Let's be generous with our time and resources. Let's live our one wild and precious life.
-A
