The Unexpected Christmas

The Christmas traditions in our family are fairly simple:

1. We spent it every year in Vancouver, WA with my aunt’s family.
2. We have a Christmas Eve dinner.
3. That is followed by my Uncle’s annual Big Rich’s Invitational Ping Pong Tournament
4. We have Christmas Day breakfast at IHOP
5. Then come home and open gifts

We knew this year would be different, but mostly because it was the first year that my cousin Jenna wouldn’t be with us.

{we miss you jen!}

But other than that, we planned for things to be pretty much business as usual. And it started off that way…

Christmas Eve begin with an afternoon walk with Chip:

Who, as demonstrated in this video, still doesn’t know how to run straight. ☺

{Its okay Chippy, we still love you.)

We had our delish Christmas Eve dinner; here’s Lauren pouring drinks…

And we had a toast to celebrate the holiday!

After dinner, it was time for the battle to begin.

Last year’s Ping Pong Tournament was pretty epic, so this year, there was a lot of trash talking going on.

Here’s the bracket results for the past 4 years:

And here’s this year’s bracket:

Riley was ready to dethrone his parents and move beyond his perpetual 3rd place status.

Lauren made a valiant effort to challenge her Dad (Big Rich)…

but we ended up having more fun on the sidelines.

Ironically, our best match was challenging each other:

Other matches followed…

But, as it does every year, came down to a big match between Rich and the defending champion, Aunty Delta:

Unfortunately, this is where our Christmas took an unexpected turn.

My Mom had bowed out of the tourney, taking a DNS because she wasn’t feeling well. We all thought she was faking it so she wouldn’t have to play (everyone has to participate), but in reality, she really was sick. I mean really sick.

She ended up going to the ER and has been in the ICU ever since.

While we did follow through with Christmas traditions #4 and #5, it wasn’t the quite the same. In fact, the final championship game of the tourney still has to be played – Aunty Delta vs. Riley. Winner gets this:

Though our holiday didn’t turn out the way we expected, there is still so much to be thankful for.

While my Mom is still in ICU, she is progressing in the right direction. And the outpouring of support from so many loved ones – family, real-life friends, blogger friends, online friends – everyone, has been tremendous.

It is a testament to me of how much good there is in this world, that you can find support in so many different ways and means.

This, for certain, is what this holiday has come to mean for me.

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