Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

The generosity of people toward our family during the Christmas season has left me speechless. All I can do is say thank you. A big thank you goes to Mosaic Church in Fort Worth for giving our family Christmas money, folks at Connect Church in Arlington for shopping for my girls, and the Sossamon family and the other folks at Best Buy for helping Santa out with electronics. I also am touched by the choir giving their Christmas gift this year to my girls' college fund. I also appreciate the rest of you the way you for loving and supporting us. You truly showing how 1 cor 12:12-14 is supposed to be lived out. Thank you and Merry Christmas.

We have laughed and cried today. All three of my girls had me laughing so hard today I got a cramp in my side (seriously). When a certain family member that normally leaves a message on answering machine from Santa forgot this year (ahem), Jadyn made me check my Yahoo to see if he sent me an email. I was trying to figure out which way to put the batteries in Bryn's camera when she asked me what I was doing. Since I was trying to figure which way the positive and negative sides were supposed to line up I told her that I was trying to figure out how to put her batteries in the camera. "Daddy," she said, "just put them in straight." As for KK, she had me gasping for breath about stories about her friends. My favorite one involved Bryn and happened while my brother-in-law Garett and I went to midnight mass (we're not Catholic but we were both up trying something new). KK's boyfriend Trevor called at midnight to wish her a Merry Christmas. Then the Yikes wanted to see a picture of him. KK showed them a picture of Trevor and two of his good friends and asked them who was the cutest. Bryn pointed to a pole that happened to be in the picture and said, "the pole."

The crying happened when we found ourselves missing Jess. Mostly because as Bryn says, "We used to be a family of five, but now we're a family of four." When we all lit a different candle for Jess, Bryn was sobbing. We all miss her. but we still have joy. Jesus was talking to his disciples when he said this but it applies to us, "You will grieve, but your grief will turn into joy."
I'm no longer dreading a special day without Jess; I'm ready for it and I'm going to enjoy it with my kids. Like Buddy the Elf says "I love smiling. Smiling is my favorite."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our God is awesome! Just want you to know that your blog inspires me daily. I hope you have a very joyous Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas to the Kaylor family. Enjoy this special day together.

Anonymous said...

My eyes are leaking again. When you loose someone in your family who was bigger than life, the "missing" feels huge on a day she always seemed to shine. James and Jessa are spending Christmas with Jesus on His birthday. The chocolate pies won't be as good and the special surprise recipes will be missing but we celebrate our blessings and thank the Lord for the Kaylors.

Aunt Sandy

Mike Stephenson said...

Keep smiling my friend. May our sweet Jesus be with your family today as you celebrate His birthday. Our thoughts are with you.
Mike and Cherie Stephenson

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas to the Kaylors from the Gillum Girls!!

Marla said...

I know it must have been a hard day, but I am so glad to hear about all the laughter and smiles! You and your sweet family will remain in my prayers.