The Christmas that almost wasn’t…

WAS one of our best Christmas’ to date.  Only tied with the Christmas of 1999 the Christmas Mike & I got engaged, and 2007 the year Christmas came 5 days early with the birth of our baby girl.
Christmas eve is all about the build up… the new Christmas jammies… the writing  a note to Santa leaving cookies and milk for the big guy and carrots for Rudolph.  Daddy reads ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas from the same book my dad read to me and my siblings when we were little. It’s all about the traditions.

I know that Christmas is not only about the gifts. However for a family with two little ones Santa has a lot to do with it. There are very few things as wonderful to see then the sparkle in you babes eyes when they see that Santa came and all the fun pretty packages under the tree for the, Thankfully with the help of a lot of elves, Santa was able to ROCK this Christmas.


For Mike and I the best part of this Christmas was both our babies coming down the stairs to find presents under our tree and not in a room at Children’s Hospital.  One Christmas spent at Children’s was enough for us.  We both knew it was a very real possibility, and we would have made the best of it.  It was nice not to have to.
Instead this is what we were greeted with as Katy & Patrick entered the living room…

Then they both went straight for the bikes…

I won’t bore you with the 300 pictures I took over the 3 hours that it took to open presents… but I will say it was awesome!! AWESOME!



Now the question is where the heck are we going to put all this?!

I Believe in Santa

It's funny, when you are a child you are lost in the magic of Christmas, but then you receive that crushing blow that Santa is not real and that magic seems to go away.
For many, the magic returns when you have children of your own, and I've had the opportunity to share that Christmas magic with Katy and Patrick for the last 5 years. Mike & I have had the privilege to be the ones providing the magic, We’ve been the one that has  brought  pure joy to their faces all the while letting Santa take the credit, it has been magical.
This year however, we found ourselves in a position where for the first time ever, we weren’t going to be able to provide that magic for our children. Life circumstances took it away from me, and while I'm sure we would have had a wonderful Christmas just the same spending time with family and friends, I would have felt like a failure.  Not getting to see that joy on their faces on Christmas morning because, for the first time ever, we  just didn't have the money to do it this year
It all started with an email from Katy’s dance teacher, shortly after our last hospital admission.  She was asking what she could do and that she and her friends and family would like to help “Santa” out this year.  My initial reaction was to politely decline. Then I realized that she most likely wouldn’t take no for an answer.  So I put my pride aside and focused on Katy & Patrick and thought about their Christmas Wish Lists knowing there was no way to make all those wishes come true as we had in the years past.  So I emailed her their lists and said just one thing would be such a blessing. 
Well within 24 hours I had another message in my inbox…requesting more ideas. WHAT!?! The list I gave was pretty hefty for each child.  I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined that they could fill all those requests and come back asking for more.
This is a tough year for a lot of families, and to think that people, strangers were willing to provide for my family all these “extras” blew me away.  With each email I cried a bit more… happy tears, thankful tears.
Shortly after Thanksgiving it was time to pick everything up.  Miss Paula tried to prepare me for the magnitude of their generosity…but honestly nothing could prepare me for what was there for my family.  I literally backed into Santa’s Workshop.  I had told myself not to cry…but I couldn’t help it. 
Every.single. item on their wish list was there in addition to beautiful clothes, shoes, boots, diapers, wipes and an abundance of gift cards.
  The gifts are now wrapped and thanks to the generosity of others, Katy & Patrick are going to have a wonderful Christmas. We are going to experience that special joy on Christmas morning.  That indescribable, magical feeling.  I am so thankful, they brought the true spirit of Christmas to my home.
I don't know how I can ever thank you . I've always believed in the spirit of Christmas, but this year, more than ever, the spirit has touched me and my family and I am just so overwhelmed and grateful. So for those that I have already thanked, thank you again, and for those that I haven't, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Merry Merry Christmas
Much Love,
Mike, Amiee, Katy & Patrick

A visit with Santa

Today we went to visit Santa at the Burlington Mall. We knew our chances of getting a good picture with Santa weren’t very high…but its the thing to do!

I thought Patrick would be fine sitting on some strange man’s lap Santa’s lap. So I sat him down first…boy was I wrong. Once Patrick started screaming it didn’t leave much hope for Kate!

Blowing Kisses to Santa!

Chatting with mommy…about what she wanted to tell Santa!