Christmas in July

November and December were very hard months for our family. Bill started going downhill two weeks before Thanksgiving. It was very hard for us to be thankful when all we could think about was the fact that Bill would be dying very soon. He had a few days right after Thanksgiving that were GREAT days. He was even able to see Santa Claus with Kalie. (That was probably the last Santa year we will have in our house, until grandchildren come.) Then at the beginning of December he took his last turn. (Now I can look back and be thankful for the time we had with him.) When Bill was diagnosed with lung cancer and we knew that there was no hope, we began to pray every day that Kalie would know her daddy well before he left. The Lord was very good to us and answered his prayer. Kalie adored her daddy and misses him terribly.

We had many plans for the month of December. We were going to bake cookies, make fudge, decorate ornaments, make presents, sing carols and decorate a gingerbread house. (Just a few of our goals.) Well most of our usual must haves for the holiday did not happen. It was a very sad holiday in our home. We put the Holiday season behind us and tried to put our life back together.

Well ... I was looking in the way back of our pantry for my extra bread flour and found our gingerbread house kit. I was just going to throw it away, not wanting Kalie to be reminded of our last Christmas week.



Well, once she saw it she was so excited and wanted to build it right away.



So build away they did.



Kalie and Wendy had a great time. I even played some of our favorite Christmas CDs.



They girls worked for over an hour and I did dishes. It was a good afternoon.



Our finished house looked nothing like the box, but I thought it was beautiful! Wendy's parents might have thought we were crazy, but that is OK. They girls wanted to eat it right away. They started to munch away and soon realized that they did not like gingerbread. They started to pick off all of the candy. I finally had to say, NO MORE CANDY!

I have been worried that Christmas will always be a sad time for Kalie. Maybe I am wrong? We will see come December.