We've been having so much fun at Christmas festivities with the kids. This weekend was packed with Santa and Christmas parades! Here we are in line to see Santa at the Brentwood library with Grandma! Callie asked that morning if Nana would be there. Nana and Grandma went with us last year to the library to see Santa. I told her that no, Nana won't be there this year. She paused for a minute and said "Yes, she'll be there. Jesus is in my heart and Nana is with Jesus so she'll be there" I just looked at Mike. Yes! Yes! Yes! Of course Nana will be there because she's with Jesus who lives in your heart so she's with you wherever you go! Thanks for that sweet reminder Callie. You are getting it. Mommy needs reminders sometimes ;)
Cooper pointing at Santa.
Callie did great! She sat with him and told him what she wanted for Christmas which was mainly things that she already has?!
Cooper kept a safe distance with Daddy.
We ran into Allison and Harper. Callie and Harper had the same dress on so we had to get a picture. Allison monogrammed Callie's dress and the shirt Cooper is wearing here. She does a great job and is reasonably priced! Thanks Allison!
After seeing Santa at the library, we took Callie to gymnastics and then back to the library for the magic show! After that, we came home and rested a bit and loaded up the car once again and headed to downtown Franklin for the Christmas parade. We joined the Fitzmorris fam. Here are a few pictures from that parade.
There were a lot of people so Daddy gave Callie the best seat in the house! It was also sunny and like 70 degrees. I am not complaining but it's a little strange participating in Christmas festivities in that kind of weather.
Of course the best part of parades is when they throw out candy!
On Sunday, we drove out to our old lil town of College Grove. We didn't want to miss out on this parade this year even though we don't live here anymore. I would suggest if you haven't been to this parade, go next year! It's smaller and seriously over in less than the amount of time it takes you to drive out there but they throw out a ton of candy and there are all kinds of livestock in the parade and to top it off, Santa comes to town on the firetruck. Callie loves it. I think Coop had fun this year too. Nana and Paw Paw usually came to this parade with us. I think they even came the year we missed out because we were living in Colorado. We missed them this year. You should look back at pictures of this parade from last year. It's in an older post. Nana looked beautiful. I will cherish those pictures forever. Look at these kids. JOY! It's pure joy seeing them so excited for Santa and the parade.
Callie waving to Santa on the firetruck.
Monday night, we went to the library to hear them read Polar Express. Cooper was pretty much not listening and rolling all over the floor during the story but Callie loved it.
Christopher the Elf has joined us this Christmas for the first time. He moves around every night. The other morning we found him way up there...
Over the weekend I made "Sweet Nothings" as Mom's recipe is called. Some call this "Puppy Chow" or "Muddy Buddies" but we call it "Sweet Nothings." And if you want to know why it is so much better, I'll give you the recipe! It's basically the same stuff but more of it and made with a lil more umph! Seriously my arms were sore after making this. Mom made this multiple times during the holidays. I've missed it so I decided to put my big girl panties on and step up and start making it for my family. I made a lil extra and took over to Buddy and his roommates. Oh you didn't know? He has two roommates now. Ha! I love calling them that. Julie and Terry sold their house and moved in with Buddy until their new house is built. Anyways, making this just brought back memories of Mom and especially the picture that I will always have in my head of her hands. If you showed me a gazillion pictures of hands, I could pick hers out. I studied them as a little girl laying in her lap in church. Her polish, her rings, her wrinkles, I still remember what they look like. They're just a real symbol of love and how she loved our family and the things she did for us. Shaking the bag of chex mix and powdered sugar to make sure each piece of cereal was completely covered with powdered sugar, not just draining but physically squeezing the crap out of the spinach you put in the spinach dip. Those lil things she did with her hands made the biggest difference in two of my favorite recipes. The "Sweet Nothings" turned out delicious. I was worried I wouldn't be able to make them the same. Of course I could, I have my Mom's hands. They aren't exact but they're the closest you can get. Okay, maybe Mema's too.
Around this time last year, I was starting my Christmas shopping for everyone in my family. I wanted to get them a gift but also something having to do with Mom and her strength. I had no idea that it would lead to what I did but that's where the Holy Spirit just stepped in and kinda took us through what was supposed to become of it. Did I have Mom write a letter or what was I going to do so that my sisters would have something of her that they'd keep forever as a sign of her strength and beauty? We had no idea that after Christmas, we only had 6.5 months left here on earth with her. So what I believe the Holy Spirit did with this idea I had this time last year was to speak of Mom's beauty, strength, and most importantly her faith. I also had no idea what these words would mean for me and my family this past year. When Mom was first diagnosed, I dealt with a lot of anger toward God. Save her! Heal her! Why her?! Why me?! God was far from good when my Mom was diagnosed with stage IV gastric cancer March 4th 2011. It's been almost two years since her diagnosis. I have been through every emotion possible but something just kinda clicked last Christmas. Mom's good friend Miss Evey passed away last December and her son read an excerpt of one of Mom's letters to Miss Evey at her funeral. And in that powerful eulogy that Ben gave about his Mom, Miss Evey, I learned something about Mom that sparked my transformation. It's no longer anger. No longer why? God is no longer punisher. He is good. Mom spoke those words in that letter to Miss Evey and Ben spoke those words to everyone at his Mom's funeral. God is good all the time. Ben just lost his Mom and he can speak those words. Wow. I began to dig a lil deeper in my faith. I began to really ask questions. I can't type this without tears in my eyes, but what God started to do in my life last year is a miracle. God moved us down the street from one of the most amazing woman I have ever met. She's completely pointed me back to Jesus. And when I say God moved us, I mean it. I don't know how we, ourselves, could have picked a better location, a better price, and eventually close on the College Grove house the month Mom passed away. I have been a part of this bible study that has gone through scripture that has proven God is good. It wasn't hard. It was like God handed me this house, these lovely ladies, and this bible study about his goodness, grace, and love for me. I am completely changed forever and so is Mike, and my kids will benefit from it as well because not only do I know how much I am loved, He loves my kids. I would've never had another baby if I didn't know this. I would've just bought the lie that maybe my last pregnancy was some kind of sign that I shouldn't have anymore kids because it's too risky. No! God knows Mike and I wanted more kids and here we are about to have baby Crosby. I'd lie if I said sometimes my anxiety about what could go wrong towards the end of the pregnancy didn't get to me. But most of the time, I am completely relaxed. I don't lose sleep. I am resting in the fact that God is good and He is taking care of me. So, back to the gift Mom and I came up with last year. I can remember the day I went over to get her handprint and how I felt dipping her hands in the paint and helping her press them on the canvas. I won't forget that day.
I decided I wanted to put her hand print on something that my sisters could keep in their home forever. Her hands were always so beautiful to me. Keep in mind I didn't know how much longer we had with her but with her here or in heaven, we could look at this everyday and be reminded of her. We threw around some ideas of what we should write on them, different bible verses, song lyrics, Mom's name, but after hearing the recording that Buddy took at Miss Evey's funeral, we both knew. It was like foreshadowing of what I'd learn about Jesus this year. Mom's handprint with these words "God is good all the time" She really believed that and it's been the most powerful thing to look at since she passed away. Everytime I pass it in my den, I think WOW! Sometimes, I just reach up on the shelf and put my hand on hers. She endured so much and still believed these words! And I now really know that He is good. Yes, I lost my mother almost 5 months ago and not a day goes by that I don't miss her. But, I can honestly say that God did not cause her disease and that He is good. It's taken a year to really dig into to that message and scripture. Some may argue that well God didn't save her or heal her. Again, we will never know why some get healed and some don't. We will drive ourselves crazy if we dwell on that. But we know for a fact from the Bible that He is good. So I choose to believe He fought the fight with her. No doubt He did everything He could as her Father in heaven just like we would do everything to save our child here on earth. But when He and she knew it was enough, Jesus came to take her to heaven and she experienced a victory like we will never know here on earth. She's healthy, beautiful, and perfect again in Heaven. I remember her hands the day she passed away. As I held them in her final days, hours, minutes, I noticed they were still beautiful and polished. Even though Mom looked tired and weak in her last days, her hands looked the same. Here's a sweet pic I found at Cooper's 4 month photo shoot and Mom's 3rd month of chemo. I love their bald heads. I love their smiles. I love Mom's hands holding my sweet baby Cooper.
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