The Soto Family Journey: Giving Thanks

Needless to say, Thanksgiving felt so strange this year. There was a heaviness surrounding it, from the tragic news the day before. It was a very emotional day for Jonathan. Nonetheless, we have much to be thankful for. We are thankful that we have such great families - ones where we deeply miss our loved ones, whether far away in another state, or in the presence of Jesus up in heaven. We are thankful to be a family of 4 this year. These two beautiful children are the biggest blessings to me and Jonathan. We are thankful for our parenting challenges. It means we have these two special little people in our lives, and that we were chosen by our Father to take care of them. We are thankful for each other. We have both experienced what life is like when living in utter turmoil in unhealthy marriages (not with each other!). We are thankful for our jobs. So many others would give anything to provide for their families. We are thankful for our health. Despite the worrisome challenges we've had with Marek, and still not knowing what the diagnosis is, we are not watching each other suffer with terminal illness. We are thankful for special friends. They have become our family away from home. We are thankful for this good Thanksgiving feast. And Mama was especially thankful for Honeybaked Ham. We had the most delicious turkey breast from there. And that means Mama won't be baking any turkeys in this oven!

We had already had plans to get out our Christmas stuff come Thanksgiving. It's our tradition. In light of the unexpected circumstances, we obviously didn't go too crazy since it was hard to be in the mood, but Jonathan still got out the tree at least to decorate since he was leaving for Buffalo in the morning. Ellison was SO itching to decorate with the ornaments! It's her fave part every year - reminiscing about each ornament and the story each one holds.

So check out our big Soto-esque Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. It makes us smile, at least. About 1/3 of the strands of lights were burned out (again) on this so-called pre-lit tree, so Jon had to toss in some extra strands. It stands crooked. Very crooked. We couldn't adorn it with any ribbon garland this year, because you-know-who would immediately find the fun in pulling it off. And we couldn't put any ornaments on the lower half because said person would also have a field day with those.

Mookie is proud, anyways. :-) She and her seasonal stuffed animals that she gets SO excited about every year, and that we have to sneak away into the holiday bins after Christmas every year or else she mourns their temporary loss...