This will be the last post of 2015. Before I get to the Christmas stuff, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the past year and to thank everyone that has been a part of our lives and supported us in any way, big or small. As I look back over the past year, a few things stick out in my mind. Firstly, the fact that James managed to make it through the holidays without getting sick and needing to be admitted to the hospital. I actually had to look back at our medical notes to see the last time James was in the hospital for an illness. January. That’s right…it’s been almost a full year since he has been in the hospital with any sort of illness. Let’s hope this continues into the new year.

Other than the lack of hospital stays, two other things stick out in my mind. The bathroom renovation that was done over the summer, and our once-in-a-lifetime trip to the North Pole a couple of weeks ago. I think we’re still on a bit of a sugar high as we’re slowly working through all of the candy that we came home with. In all seriousness, though, we are extremely fortunate and thankful for all of the love, support, gifts, and monetary contributions that we’ve received this past year. Life with a special needs child is hard but having the support of family and friends (old and new) does make it easier to keep going day after day. So, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you all!

 

Christmas

With James not in the hospital and not showing any signs of illness, it was Christmas as normal. Christmas Eve was spent with my side of the family, and as usual, I ate too much. But I just couldn’t help myself. Everything was so good!

 

 

Christmas morning, I slept in a little bit. Stacy took this selfie with James while they were waiting for me to get up. I love these two!

 

 

I got up shortly after she took that picture, but they did have to wait a little bit longer to open gifts while I whipped up some pancakes and scrambled eggs for Stacy and I. Then it was finally time to open gifts…and there were quite a few this year thanks to the generous donors of Operation North Pole. If you missed that post, go back and check it out.

There was a special Christmas store at school where James bought a couple of things for mommy and daddy. I got a coffee mug and a picture frame. Stacy got a couple of ornaments for the tree; one that he bought, and one that he made.

 

 

 

Stacy got her usual assortment of pajamas from me.

 

 

Stacy got me a headlamp, which I put to use yesterday while I was trying to figure out why the lights in the 3rd bedroom (which we use as an office) flicker whenever James’ bedroom light is on.

 

 

Then it was James’ turn, and as you can see, he had a few more gifts than Stacy and I had:

 

 

Ready James? Let’s start opening up all of these packages…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phew. That was a lot of gifts! Thank you, Operation North Pole!

We had a little bit of time to recover from opening all of those gifts before we had to pack up the van and head out to see Stacy’s family. Although James can’t play and do many of the things that his cousins can, the one thing they can do together is hangout and watch some good cartoons.

 

 

I appreciate the fact that none of his cousins are scared of James and want to hang out with him. Makes me happy.

As long as nothing major happens in the next four days, that should be a wrap on 2015. Hope everyone had a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season. Thank you again to all of you for being part of James’ journey. We love you all.