Time for giving

Its Christmas time. For most people, their to do lists are lengthy and include a myriad of activities like bake cookies and decorate the tree. As I look at my list of things to do, I too have a lot of the same tasks to accomplish. But the biggest thing on my list is to try to make this Christmas special for Bryce. Of course that goes beyond whats under the Christmas tree. What are the things I want him to learn about this season and what traditions do I want to start. So after a lot of soul searching and too little action, I have a few goals to accomplish before the big day. 1.) I want to keep the mystery and magic of Santa Claus alive as long as I can. We are only young an innocent for so long and I want Bryce to believe in magic and the endless possibilities that come with it. To foster this, we are going to write a letter to Santa Claus. 2.) I want to keep Shaun present in our thoughts and actions. So in addition to a letter to Santa Claus, we are going to write a letter to Bryce's Dad. I'm going to let Bryce dictate what he wants to say to him but I plan on making a copy for Shaun's grave. 3.) I want to foster the idea of giving this time of year (and I guess the rest of the year too). Bryce is probably too young to realize my efforts serve two purposes, to support cancer research and to remember Shaun's fight but over the years I think this will be an important lesson for him. We owe a lot of the 2 years we had with Shaun during his fight to advances in science. We can only hope with more funding and research that someday this horrible disease will be curable. So I've joined forces with a local representative for the Jimmy V foundation for cancer research and plan to be as involved as possible. So look forward to emails from me in to future to support their efforts :)

So for Christmas this year, more than anything, I want to honor Shaun's memory and learn from his example. We will spend a lot of time with family and friends and celebrate the joys that we are lucky to still have in our lives.

The one tradition that Bryce has initiated is dressing up as if its Halloween. So Bryce will be the purple Teletubbie for Christmas (Tinky Winky for anyone who is interested). Of course I will post pictures after Christmas of my purple little munchkin.


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