A Christmas to Remember

Since Jake & I were engaged in 2001, it's become a tradition for our families to gather together for Mass and dinner. That year Jake asked me to marry him and I said yes. We could have had no idea what was to come in the next 9 years. Of course, the attacks on September 11th had occurred, so we had a bit of an idea that deployment was a distinct possibility for us, but we never could have imagined how difficult it would be, or conversely, how blessed we would be.

This year, as always, our contemporary music group sang at the 4 PM Mass. It was nice to see our row of family there, but it was a little sad, too, knowing that Jake was not there to share it with all of us. This was his first Christmas away from his family in 30 years. Of course, now that Flat Daddy Jake has arrived, we are not often without him. We knew Mass would be very full, so we decided to leave Flat Daddy in the car...but have no fear, real Jake had attended Midnight Mass in Afghanistan and participated as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion.

After Mass we headed to my parents' house where we spent time decorating some special cutout Christmas cookies and the annual Baby Jesus' birthday cake. This is also a tradition, and Jake always has a lot of fun decorating the cookies. One year he made a Gingerbread man in a kilt. In the spirit of his creativity, I tried to recreate the kilt cookie....which of course didn't work out as I had planned...but instead, I went with what I had...

This is "Jake" in some plaid swim trunks with a purple floatie, complete with hairy chest and rosy cheeks! Think I need a vacation with my husband soon to somewhere warm with a beach?!

We enjoyed a delicious ham dinner, complete with jello salad, rolls, and green bean and potato casseroles. We had a place for Flat Daddy Jake, and set his with the "Celebrate Plate."

The next morning, we turned on the computer and Jake as able to join us via Skype to enjoy the usual festivities. He saw us all opening presents, and luckily he received many special Christmas packages from all of us back home. We've decided we'll change the lyrics of the old song to, "I'll be home for Christmas...if only via Skype...." and we're already looking forward to next year and celebrating as a family...together.

~Emily