Extreme Gratitude

I've been floating on clouds today, not only because I feel pretty good (and I get to take chemo off on Friday!), but because we have been richly blessed by the generosity of SO MANY people this Christmas season!  Friends at Mat's school (Riverton High) have gifted so much to him for us.  He got a sizable cash donation today from an anonymous friend, delivered to him by an office aide during his prep period.  Teachers in his department and some of the office ladies raised money to pay for the sub on Thursday, which isn't cheap the day before the long holiday!  Because they don't want most teachers taking off the day before a holiday (because there aren't enough subs), district policy is that there are only a few that get the day off, and that is done by lottery.  So blessed!  There have been many other kind gestures at RHS too, just makes a person happy!

Some of you know that our family was nominated by the "Hope for the Holidays" program through Huntsman.  That means that another family (or another group of donors) graciously donated everything for our Christmas, I mean, we've never had a pile that looked like this one!  We're simple people, with not a ton of resources, so we generally keep things to the practical necessities.  When one daughter came in from school, she saw the gifts, her eyes got big and she said "Whoa!"  Our heartfelt THANKS to everyone that made this possible, Annie our LCSW, and the family that took on our family, shopped, wrapped and gave us all these things.

Santa really does deliver!

I got to spend a good portion of the day making final preparations for our big "reveal" tonight, when the kids find out that 1) Christmas is today.  Presents are today! AND  2)  That we fly out in about 11 hours to a warm, sunny beach location of unknown origin, even to me!  I mean, I know the state we're going to, but not the exact location.  And since my kids don't know about any of it, I can't tell y'all.  All of this has been made possible by a dear friend and her husband, who wish to remain anonymous.  She's told me that planning and making all of this possible for us has been the best Christmas they've ever had!  I can't wait to post some pictures of our adventures.  An elaborate plan was created to tell the kids about the trip, where we're going generally, because we won't know exactly until we're in the rental car.  Presents with clues will be opened in numerical order.  The last present is a puzzle they have to put together, then turn over where they'll find a coded message.  To find the "decoder", there's a scavenger hunt through our house.  They have to find the decoder to figure out that we're going on vacation, and generally where we're going.  Believe me, my brain can't handle all of this.  That's where friends come in!  We open envelopes at the appointed times to find out the rest of the cool stuff.  Can you stand it?!  This is going to be AWESOME!

























I've slacked off in sharing the things we've received for the 12 Days of Christmas.  We have no idea who is doing this for us, but it's been so great to look forward to that everyday!  Whoever it is, they are creative and thoughtful and we are GRATEFUL!

6th day of Christmas - 6 mugs, with hot chocolate!  Kids broke into it before I could get my picture.

An anonymous friend from RHS gifted Mat a generous sum to help us on our trip.  People are amazing!