Christmas 2009

People kept saying, "I can imagine how hard the holidays are for you." I didn't think it was going to be quite as hard as it was. Travis wasn't real involved in the Christmas shopping. Our anniversary is Nov 19, so he and I always went to Seattle for a night, grabbed a comedy show at the Underground and the next day walked Pike Street looking for Christmas gifts. That was fun for a few years, but we rarely ended up with many gifts. The last few years, though, we started actually finding a mall and doing our shopping. November 2008, we were in the Southcenter mall when a shooting occurred. Quite scary as the shooting happened just down the way from the store we were in . . . at a store we had just passed by a few minutes before!! Anyways . . those anniversary weekends were the only days Travis was really involved at all with the actual shopping for Christmas gifts(let us not forget the financial support that provided all of it!), minus any motocross stuff he'd bring home for me to wrap for the boys. Even Christmas Eve, Travis always was sleeping while I got the Santa gifts and stockings all in place.
Even with the little amount that Travis really got involved with . . . I'd do anything to have had him here sleeping in our bed . . . whilst I got Santa's things ready!
This year, Travis was still involved financially, yet I am sure that he was just as excited as I was for his children to receive their gifts this year. The children's main gift from me (the package tags said "from: Mom and Dad") was quite original. I was able to have a wonderful "sister" from church gather other "sisters" and they all helped me in making things for each of my children . . . out of Travis' clothes! Cole received a blanket made out of Travis' camo clothing and jeans. The hardest part of all the items made for the kids was when I chose to use the camo shirt and jeans (that the medical staff cut off of Travis the day that he passed) on Cole's blanket. I just couldn't discard them. Joshua's blanket is made up of Travis' motocross t-shirts. Kyleigh's blanket is made to look western with more of Travis' jeans and flannel and plaid shirts that he often wore. The "sister" who made Kyleigh's blanket also went out of her way and made a pillow for Ky. She even put a picture of Kyleigh and her dad on the pillow, along with a back pocket from a pair of his jeans! Abigail didn't get a blanket . . . or a pillow. Instead, she received a teddy bear! This teddy bear was made out of Travis' red sweats and a pair of grey sweats turned inside out for a bit of a fuzzy look! Also, the "sister" who made this bear took one of Travis' most often worn plaid shirts and made the bear a shirt out of that one!!!! And . . . since Travis often wore grey tshirts, the bear had a grey tshirt under the plaid shirt! The bear also has a pair of Travis' jeans made into a pair of overalls. The bib for the overalls was made out of a back pocket from some jeans. These objects being made out of Travis' clothes came to me as an idea from someone throughout the first few weeks after his passing. I sure wish that I could remember who! I know that it was an amazing idea, and I am SO thankful that my children have this part of their father to hold onto forever! It is irreplaceable! I also had a blanket made for our business partner's family. It was original in its own way also. It has a lot of different pieces from Travis' clothes also, along with two pictures of Travis and his name off his J&L sweatshirt. My goal is to still (myself) make Travis' mother and brother a table runner out of his clothing. Cross your fingers!
Christmas, like I said, was a bit harder than I'd thought. But . . . it was also as nice as it could have been seeing our situation. Seeing that our livingroom is under construction, our Christmas tree (which I need to get a picture of and show on here!) is up in the apartment, in the barn where the boys sleep.
Christmas Eve, we had brunch at my sister's house in Everson. Our parents came from Idaho, and it was nice to all be together, minus my brother who didn't come up from California this year. After brunch and a few games, me and the kids went home and hung out eating lasagna and playing the Wii. Then we watched Elf, our favorite Christmas movie! The girls slept in the apartment with the boys that night, since the Christmas tree was out there. I ended up actually WAKING everyone up on Christmas morning!! It was 7:30!!!! So we all hid out in the apartment and exchanged gifts while eating cinnamon rolls (our traditional Christmas morning breakfast!). After exchanging gifts, we played the Wii and enjoyed each other's company for a while!! In my opinion, my Christmas morning couldn't have gone any better! I was rather happy, in the end, that we weren't in the house that morning. No house phone ringing to interupt our time or anything like that. I felt very blessed and happy!
Christmas Day, after enjoying each other's company, we all showered and then headed back to my sister's house to play games and share the excitement of gifts. At 5, we went and had dinner with Travis' brother Chuck and his sweet girlfriend, Susan and her family! It was so thoughtful of them to invite us to their home! We felt very comfortable!
I am thankful for my blessings. I try to count them daily. My children all got me sweet, loving, some personal, gifts for Christmas, that made me feel so loved and understood! I am so thankful to the Lord for entrusting me with each one of them! I know that with each other to lean on . . . we will be okay!