Christmas Reflections

As a child I remember going to Mass with my family and waking at the wee hours of the morning to open my Christmas presents.  This is our first Christmas with our little one and while she doesn't understand the meaning of Christmas and doesn't show the excitement for Santa yet, having a child makes Christmas a little different.  We're starting to make our own traditions as a family.  For some, Thanksgiving is about bringing family together.  For me, I feel more that Christmas is our family gathering.  This is our third Christmas without Joe's Dad and I miss him more and more as R2D2 becomes more interactive and social. He would love seeing her look of awe at the tree lights and eating the wrapping paper  Joe had a great role model as a father and I love seeing Joe step into this role of a father.  Mr. Joe would be so proud of him.

In November my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has since had surgery and will be starting chemo after the new year.  She has stage one cancer, so her prognosis is very good, however it's still frightening to know my mom has cancer.  She's already a survivor though and we will get through this.

While we exchanged actual gifts, I truly feel enjoying time with my family was my best gift I received this year.  I'm in a busy part of my residency right now and the time off was the exact gift I needed, especially with my mom's recent diagnosis.  Our families have blessed us with their gift of time and babysitting throughout the year which has helped more than Joe and I could ever return in words or Christmas gifts.

We are truly blessed.  Thank you Lord.