On, this the last day of my seven days of thankfulness and giving,
I reserved it for my new family. Without
boring you with a historical view of my
life through the looking glass, just look back at day 1 of this practice to see
that I made a lot of mistakes along the way and that my journey to my new
family was very much like Linus in that it took me a long time, the ability for
Andy to break down a lot of walls to be able to trust again, and having faith
in the path to them.
To help you see why I am so thankful for my new family, I
want to tell you about a tradition that I was brought into even before I was
officially a part of the family. Christmas
is a big deal and the entire family comes together for a week of visits, good
food and board games. On Christmas Eve, it
is a more formal dinner with extended family, and we stay until the
evening. Then Andy and I leave for the
evening to head back to our house. At
4:30 AM we get up and make our way back to Andy’s parent’s house, because we
get to play Santa Claus. We sneak into
the house with all the presents and put them under the tree, we eat the cookies
left out for Santa (bonus) and fill the stockings. Andy’s mom leaves us blankets so that we can
nap on the couches until the kids wake in the morning. It is pure chaos in the
morning when the kids wake, as they scream that Santa has been there and we
joke that we slept through it again and that we can’t believe Santa is so quiet
that we could be on the couch right by the fireplace and not wake up.
The second part of the tradition is that each year we make an
ornament for Andy’s mom. The ornament is
from significant that has happened in our lives in the year. When we come in, we hide them on the tree and
when she gets up in the morning with the kids, she gets to search the tree to
find all the new ornaments added for the year.
Andy’s mom and I have also entered into a tradition that we try to find the
most meaningful gift for the other, you know, that one gift that would bring
tears to the other’s eyes. Two years
ago, I won, but last year, last year she won and I may not ever be able to
provide another gift with as much meaning, last year she gave me my very own
stocking to be hung on the chimney. That stocking represented the greatest gift
of all; the gift of family.
This, my friends, if you are still reading, is why I am so
very thankful for my family. In the words of the Grinch, my heart grew three sizes
and I am filled with love for all the wonderful people in my life, whom I chose
to call my family.
Thank you for following my seven days. I have one extra
charity on the list today, as I didn’t want to leave anyone off. We have successfully provided donations to
all charities on the wish list, 29 in total!!
To show my appreciation and thankfulness for what I have
today, I have made a $20.00 donation to each of the following charities:
- Maine Veterans Project (www.maineveteransproject.org )
- 22 Kill (www.22kill.com )
- Scottish SPCA (www.scottishspca.org )
- Human Society of Greater Dayton (www.hsdayton.org )
- Animal Welfare Institute (www.awionline.org )
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