Merry Christmas

Although I did send out some Christmas cards this year, I apologize that I was not able to send them to everyone I would have liked to. Particularly my T21 online friends who added me to the Christmas card exchange list without me knowing. What a wonderful surprise to receive all your beautiful cards, I look forward to getting the mail everyday! Here is our family Christmas picture. Unfortunately I was unable to post the poem, as it's saved at home on my computer and I was unsuccessful at communicating to Ryan how to email it to me. You'll have to wait a little while longer on that. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, we sure did. I guess it doesn't really matter where you are, as long as you're with the people you love the most. (*Except I do miss you Mom, Hannah and Laura if you're reading this in Spain!)



Santa did come visit us in the hospital, thanks to the reindeer food and glitter that Logan spread outside of the hospital. We were a little concerned he might miss us, but there was no way he could miss that!

We've had about 3 days of Christmas, with food and gifts, family and friends, I'm afraid Logan may be slightly disappointed to wake up tomorrow and find out it's just a regular day! Sunday, Micah, Jason, Gracie and Kinsley dropped by with stockings filled for the kids. Thanks to the two very generous foundations, Gifts of Gabi's Grace and Miracles Happen, the kids got some early Christmas gifts. They LOVED their stockings! By the way, THANKS for the giant piece of chocolate!!!


Christmas Eve, we enjoyed our Christmas celebrations with our family's from home. My dad and stepmom came down just in time to feast on some of that delicious cafeteria food for lunch. They came loaded with special gifts from some VERY special people, that needed to be saved for Christmas morning. We had to do some fancy footwork and hide some things from the kids in the shower. Thank goodness my kids never bathe! Then we did a gift exchange with them and when we were done, all Logan could do was think of who might have more Christmas presents for him.

Grandma and Grandpa C. to the rescue! They stayed for another Christmas celebration with them. Shortly after her nap, Chelsea finished her 3rd round of chemotherapy!! Unfortunately we have to stay for count recovery, but at least she's done being poisoned for this round. AND...that's the halfway point!!! Only three more rounds and we'll be done!!! It was fabulous timing for Christmas. Once she was unhooked she went running down the halls, it was as if she was shouting, "I'm free, I'm free!" Of course we had to take her right into the procedure room to have her Hickman repaired. It was like surgery, everything had to be sterile to prevent infection. Ryan and I sat in there holding her down while they cut her line (yep, it was scary, but it was clamped, so no blood rushing anywhere!) It's pretty amazing how they can repair that thing. I think it's fairly common to have to do repair (or replacements) on kiddos this age b/c they're so active and there's no way to get the Hickman's to hold up against a toddler! As you probably guessed, I saved the old Hickman...for the scrapbook.

Okay as for celebrating with gma and gpa C, all I can say is Optimus Prime, talking Transformer Mask, OH MY GOSH!!! Logan has spent the last two days cruising the halls of 4 Henson with this huge voice mutating mask on his face. Although the nurses really seemed to get a kick out of it, I think some of the patients were seriously frightened by my four year old. After we ate an amazing meal (provided by former patient families) we met the chaplain in the chapel for a prayer. Chelsea was able to leave the floor since her counts haven't dropped too much yet! There's no service around here, but it was nice to spend some time remembering the reason for Christmas. While we all wore our jeans, I dressed Chelsea up in her very special Christmas dress, tights, shoes and hat. She was absolutely stunning despite the green hospital mask.

Logan was in a fury to get all of his gifts opened this morning. By 9am the nurse attempted to locate Chelsea among the sea of wrapping paper, boxes and toys to take her vitals, but proved unsuccesful. She returned a half hour later after we had a chance to clear a path in our temporary small but cozy living quarters. Because of Chelsea's line repair she has to take all of her meds orally, so the nurse had 4 meds for her to take. As always, she downed them like a champ, then tried to climb onto her new tricycle that Daddy was still in the process of putting together. Of course it didn't work in her favor and she ended up on her back screaming in pain from hitting her head on the concrete floor. I picked her up to love on her and she quieted fairly quickly. I then turned her around to see the very special visitor at our door. She glanced over and saw the 6 foot tall Santa standing next to her and burst into tears again, only this time she was gagging at the same time. Can you guess what happened next? Yep, all of those meds ended up all over her, me and the floor...along with half of a yogurt smoothie. Yuck! I calmly asked Santa if he could come back to visit after we got changed and he kindly obliged. Once she settled down she sat right on his lap and even posed for pictures! He handed her back to me and she turned around and reached for him again with both arms. I think she liked sitting on his lap b/c his suit is so warm and cozy!




The rest of our Christmas was gloriously uneventful. Logan conned the nurses into a few more gifts and Chelsea made her daily laps down the hallway. We packed a giant Christmas dinner to go after checking out of the Ronald McDonald House. It turns out someone cooked an entire holiday meal and there was noone staying at the house. The person working there had put it in the fridge and said were the first to eat. We bagged up a bunch of food so we could eat it here with Chelsea. We couldn't stand the thought of eating over there without her. It was great, the four of us, hovered around a small hospital bedside table eating our meal. We are so thankful to be together (and that Chelsea was eating!)

I have to give a very big thanks to everyone who helped make this Christmas special for us. To all the friends and family that sent gifts for the kids and for us, we are so very grateful. Please know it warmed my heart to see the kids open their gifts and squeal with excitement. Ahhh, to be a child on Christmas morning again!