Hi Everyone,
My name is Haylie, I am Marissa’s mom and she asked me to write a guest blog so you we go.
The thought of my family not being home for Thanksgiving or Christmas did cross my mind while our kids were growing up but I would dismiss it quickly in hopes, that no matter what, we would always spend Christmas together.
When Marissa told us about The World Race 11 in 11, one of my first thoughts was, she won’t be home for Christmas! How do we carry out our traditions if she wasn’t home? Every year it is a chore to get us all together to put the ornaments on the tree. When we finally get together, I hand them each ornament one at a time as they listen to the story (again) of each ornament and how old they were when they made it or where it came from and who gave it to us/them. We listen to Christmas music while decorating and then we watch the movie Elf. I thought not having Marissa home for Christmas was going to break my heart and put me in a Ba-Humbug mood, but it hasn’t. What was our Christmas going to be like if we didn’t do our traditions? I had to remind myself, Christmas is not about traditions. Christmas is about Christ, our saviors birth!
I do miss Marissa so very much, but the smile and the brightness I see in every picture I receive and the spiritual maturity I read in every blog….I just can’t imagine wishing her home when she is so happy and full of life doing great things for the Kingdom of God.
Seeing the joy in her smile fills my heart more than any tradition ever could.
