Christmas, the good and the sad

First, the sad: This Christmas fell on Sunday. I wish it had been on a weekday in some ways. Our poor Cayman was just not doing so well. We put her on the outside patio couch so that hopefully she could be comfortable. She stopped eating on Thursday. Of course we had no idea it would be so bad and she got progressively worse through the weekend. All the vets are closed on Christmas Eve which was Saturday, so there was nothing we could do but make her comfortable. We went with Tedd and Emily's family to Zoo Lights on Christmas Eve and also had our Christmas Eve Breakfast for dinner at our house this year. We kept an eye on Cayman through the night and she was just not doing good - breathing heavy and she couldn't lower her head enough to drink water from her bowl so I had to put it on some stools so she could reach it.

Here she is at 7 am when we got up. Poor thing :(

Cayman continued to struggle into the afternoon. I had called my Mom to tell her how Christmas was and see how her Christmas had gone. Then, Madelyn came out to me crying saying that Daddy had given her a blessing that it was ok for her to go to Heaven and now she is dead. I got off the phone and went to see that she was gone. I was so sad to see her gone, but comforted to know that the blessing she received allowed her to know it was ok to go. At the end of the blessing she sighed and she was gone. You can see the lump on her rib in the photo below after she passed.

Cayman was our first dog. I had almost always had a dog and Michael usually had a dog growing up also. It's sad to see her go. She died Christmas day around 12:30pm. She would had been 10 on January 2. She was a good dog. We miss her.

The next hard part was that no vets were open on Christmas, so we had to wait until the next morning to take her to the vet. She was too heavy to carry and we had to put her in a box and take her in to them. I've never had to deal with a pet dying at home and this was really tough to have to take her in after the fact. I guess the only solice came in knowing that she was already gone. Also, through the words of Joseph Smith, we know that we will see Belle(who died 2 years ago in December) and her again.

Now, the good: The kids woke up and were very excited to see what Santa had brought them for Christmas. Merrick got a new bike, Madelyn got a Disney Castle, and Miley got Rapunzel's tower. Little Michael got a Farm. He really loves farm animal sounds. Moo was one of his first words and now he says moo before we even get to the dairy farms by our house when we are driving. Smarty pants. We like to make Christmas last, so we one our presents one at a time so that everyone can see and then we go ahead and put it together. It usually takes us 3-5 hours to open everything up and put it together. Even Michael Patrick had fun opening his little presents this year. It was a lot of fun and we were so blessed to have had a wonderful Christmas.

 This poor tree. I don't think one ornament was where it started by Christmas day.

 Merrick enjoying his Santa goodies.

 Little Michael enjoyed the ball that Santa left Cayman. Poor pup didn't get a chance to ever play with it.

 Michael still loves playing with the farm. It makes animal sounds and comes with the animals. What could be better!

 Part of Miley's Rapunzel tower.

 Madelyn's Cinderella Castle and all the goodies that came with it.

 movies!

 This boy LOVES Legos - especially Lego Star Wars.

 Gamma got Madelyn her favorite Disney Princess - Ariel.

 It was so hard for the kids to let him open his own gifts.

 The Disney heroes!

 Trying out his new bike. He had to ride the girl bikes for a year or so.

 Madelyn opening her LaLa Loopsey doll and Miley with her new Swim to Me Puppy.

 How is it that a baby bottle pop from his stocking could be his favorite!

 Madelyn with her Ariel doll and Miley with her Jasmine doll that Gamma got them. Jasmine is Miley's favorite princess (as you can also see on their Christmas nightgowns this year).

 The boys got pirate pj's this year. Here Michael is opening his pull along barking dog.

 Miley had a pig Christmas. This girl loves pigs and she got a pig mom and two piglets and Olivia from Nana, she was in "hog heaven"!

 Merrick had been waiting for weeks to open this present. It was "the BIG one". If you know Merrick, you know that this boy can not stand to wait. It drives him crazy to see a package and not know what is in it. The sad thing is that shortly after he gets the thrill of having something new or opening something he already has in mind what he wants next. He could easily be a shop-a-holic. This was his big present from Gamma - The Black Pearl Lego ship. He LOVED is, and still does!

May the force be with you, Merrick

 The boys decided to have a light saber battle.

 I know this is blurry, but it shows how they were battling.

 This was his present from Nana and Papa - he loves it and plays in it every day.

Michael and I had a good Christmas too. I got a new Sony camera, among other things. Yeah!!! He got a new truck a few weeks before Christmas. I never know what to get that guy, so he didn't get much on Christmas. The truck is really nice.

Merry Christmas!