Merry Christmas Eve!

The Clause-a-Meter is off the hook here in our home with Christmas spirit and excitement! Not only are we excited for Christmas morning, but we are all looking forward to traveling to California for hugs, fun and catching up with family and friends. 

Christmas Morning 2011

Leah was 18 months and Nate was 4 1/2. 

Our family has had our fare share of lousy Christmases. I recently came across these photos of Christmas morning 5 years ago when I was going through chemotherapy. I remember trying to smile and enjoy the day... but at that time I really believed I was living through my last Christmas. My smiles were for the kids. I watched the littles open gifts thinking about how I wouldn't ever get to watch them have this kind of excitement again. I remember I had to go to the ER two times that December because I had fevers, was going septic, and my organs were shutting down (went through that twice). I remember surviving the day... rather than celebrating it. 

It can be really hard to see good sometimes when life has dealt you a bad hand. In retrospect... I was learning the value of health (amongst a host of other life lessons). It has been a long five years of healing. The process of living beyond cancer is so much more than just a physical fight as finding mental and emotion health can be equally as difficult. I look back in amazement and grateful for the storm... and in awe of the rainbow! This Christmas is 100% different - and for that I am thankful!

When you are a pastoral family, the weeks leading up to Christmas (and Easter) are long and exhausting. Preparing the church for a service to celebrate the meaning of the season is fun and takes long hours. As a family, tonight we look forward to our special time after the candle light Christmas Eve service to rest together and watch our Christmas Eve favorite; "It's A Wonderful Life".  My favorite part will be at the end of the movie when the brother comes home from New York and says "A toast to my big brother George: the richest man in town." 

I know I will cry because I do every single year. 

And then George will find this letter:

And I will reflect and think about how blessed I am to have such incredible friends and family.

How blessed I am to have smart and healthy kids. 

How blessed I am to have a loving husband that I have fun with daily. 

How blessed we are to have been called to serve the people in this church. 

How blessed I am to have found health and the amazing support system at TSFL. 

How blessed I am for the opportunity to be a health coach and share this hope with others. 

And how this year I can finally, truly celebrate being healthy in a whole new way that I never knew was possible. 

Friends, thank  you for your friendship. 

Thank you for your role in this journey this past year. 

Thank you for honestly sharing your goals with me and trusting me with your reality. 

May you have Christmas full of love, hope and laughter!

Merry Christmas, 

Kelly