Christmas Tree

On Sunday, December 6, we took our little family and went to pick out a Christmas Tree. For most of you, that might not seem like a big deal, but for us it was! Last year, we were living in the Ronald McDonald House over Christmas waiting for Caden's arrival and we didn't get to enjoy doing any of our normal Christmas things. In addition, I was on bed rest, so we were even more limited as to what we could do to celebrate.

This year it was so much fun to bundle the kids up with their warm hats and go pick out a tree. I wish we could have gone up into the foothills and cut down our own tree, but that was not to be the case for us this year. We just went to a little lot right off a busy street near our house. The location wasn't ideal, but at least we got to enjoy our time together. Kyler had fun running through the rows of trees and quickly settled on the one we brought home. We asked him about a couple other ones, but he wouldn't budge.

We brought it home and it is now sitting in our living room. We had fun with Kyler putting the lights on and hanging all the ornaments. This was something we didn't get to do last year and it made it all the more special this year. Kyler thought it was very fun to hang things on the tree and loved to see the picture ornaments of himself. So cute! Caden sat and watched everything we did with great interest.

I am feeling very blessed this holiday season as I reflect on last year and what we had going on then. A year ago, on December 16, Greg and I moved to the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford. Because I was on bed rest and because we didn't know when I would go into labor, we couldn't have Kyler stay with us. So between my mom and Greg's sister, he was taken care of. But it's not the same as having your whole family together.

There were so many uncertainties last Christmas as we didn't know what to expect when Caden was born. We didn't know if he would be able to breathe on his own, we didn't know how soon he would have surgery, and we didn't know how long he would have to remain in the hospital.

And, now this holiday season, we have Caden at home and overall he is doing amazingly well considering everything he has been through! We are so proud of our little fighter and all he has overcome so far. We know he has a long road ahead of him but given what he has accomplished already, we know he will persevere!

Enough of my sentimentalities... I hope you enjoy the pictures of our Christmas tree outing. :)