Christmas Cards

Post date: Nov 24, 2012 5:28:40 PM

This would traditionally be the weekend that I get the Christmas Cards in the mail. I would spend the weekend working on my mail merge, printing envelopes, creating a Christmas letter, and assembling the whole thing into one envelope. Prior to this, I would have spent hours finding the perfect photos, finding the "perfect card with just the right message." And this year, well, as I was sitting down to do all of this, I got an email. It was from Give Kids the World. I get an email from them monthly, telling me of all the news at the village. But this one. Well, it hit me. It was in November that we visited the village. We stayed there in 2006 as part of Natalie's Make A Wish trip.

And it changed us.

We were beginning to lose hope.

Natalie had just been re-activated on the transplant list for a 2nd liver transplant. She'd had her "tubie" in for a year. Her portal vein was becoming an issue. Sure, she'd beaten PTLD, but we, her parents were beaten down in the process.

And then came the Wish trip.

Her Wish was to see Dolphins, and Whales, and Mickey.

And we did.

But we also discovered this place. Give Kids the World. If you eat at Perkins, you've seen pictures of it.

But what you don't see in those pictures is the hope that is renewed in the families that visit. You don't see how beaten down they are when they arrive, and how lifted they are in spirit when they leave.

And that's what I remembered when I got that email. My heart swelled not unlike the Grinch's own heart. I remembered the joy we felt.

And that's why this year, I am taking what I would normally spend on Christmas Cards, and I am sending it to GKTW.

So here is my electronic Christmas Card and letter. Hope that no one minds the change.