Sickness and Santa

Well where to even start...

This weekend has been an interesting one, one that will forever change the patterns and habits of our family. Thursday night I had to take Ben to the ER due to severe stomach pain and vomiting. It turns out he has Diverticulitis. It is a very painful infection in his large intestines, that usually only affects elderly people, but because young people have horrible diets, the doctors are seeing more and more of this. A high fiber diet is really the only way he can make it not happen again, once he's off the antibiotics. So basically, this will completely change how we eat as a family from now on. I'm actually excited for this change and I'm going to work really hard to make it work for me and Ben. This works with our New Years' Resolution too. We are going to get healthy! This illness has put a bit of a damper on our holiday mood but hopefully as Ben continues to get better we can more fully enjoy the festivities and enjoy our Christmas together.

I did take the kids to our ward's Christmas party Friday night, where the kids got to sit on Santa's knee. Shelby was the most excited of the three but the boys eventually wanted to go. Stryder is starting to hear things about "Santa" and it makes me sad. I don't want him to ever not believe. I still believe, for goodness sake! It's all a part of the Christmas magic that I hope to hang on to for a very long time. Growing up, if I didn't believe I didn't get presents and it was never talked about even once I knew. There was still a Santa regardless. I hope I can get my kids to share this same feeling.

I am really excited for our Christmas this year though. I decided I wanted to do something a little different, so this year my kids are only getting three presents each, plus their stocking. The reason being is that Jesus only received three presents from the Wisemen and we are working really hard to try and be like Jesus. For the last couple months we have had a sticker chart going where the kids receive stickers for doing things that Jesus would do or like if they did. We have had some great success and I think this will teach them a great lesson this year. So come Christmas morning our presents will be few but our good works will be many, or so I hope. I am so grateful for this time of year and the needed reminder of what is truly important.