The Best Christmas Ever!

"This is the best Christmas ever!!" Music to every parents ears when they hear their children shout those words. It means we've succeeded in finding that really hard gift, the one we had to go to the ends of the earth and back to get. We do it as parents. Why, we ask ourselves, who knows maybe it's just to hear those words, to know we've brought joy to their little hearts. Well this Christmas, I want to shout, "This is the best Christmas ever!" and it truly was. For starters, the husbands 94 year old Grandmother and his Aunt moved down from Alaska to stay. It's been so wonderful having them here, as a matter of fact, we decided against tradition and celebrated Christmas at their house instead of ours. With all the family around, minus our oldest and youngest sons, we gathered for breakfast then later, prepared for the of sharing of gifts.

Being empty nester's, the husband and I relished having our middle son home from college to join in the family festivities. Then, I was introduced to Skype. What an amazing computer program. By downloading Skype, we were, not only able to see my sister in law and her family in Colorado, but also have our oldest son join us in the family circle of gift sharing. We put the computer in the family room and he was able to see all of us, and we were able to enjoy having him be a part of Christmas. Later in the afternoon, we talked to our youngest son, who is serving a mission in Mexico. He did not have a time limit on the phone so we exhausted ourselves talking to him using the speaker phone. It was so good to hear his voice and catch up on what he's been doing and how his mission is going for him. Even though we only had one out of three children home for Christmas, I felt as if we were all together.

We may not have gone to the ends of the earth, but we were close. By connecting with Colorado, Idaho, Mexico and having relations from Alaska share in the Christmas celebrations, I can definitely say, "This has been the best Christmas ever!"