Oh What a Holiday It Has Been

The holidays have been. . . what's the word. . . different, hard, heavy. . . .these last 2 years. It is hard to be excited about them. We want to be for Josh and Mike. And, at times, it seems like we can remember what it was like before. . . . the excitement, the joy, the blissfully happy moments. Ah, but then grief settles in for a nice long nap and we return to. . . well. . . to life.

But, there have been some good times and I want to share them. The holidays started off with this:





Many of you know that I bought the boys a dry erase board some time ago and it resides in Luke's room. The boys often leave him messages on it. But I just thought these were the best, don't you?

And then there was this:





So many people came to release balloons for Luke on his birthday. We surely do feel loved and supported by our wonderful friends and family!!!


And no one would want to miss this:




Christmas Day! Our boys in their new jammies, big grins on there faces, and love abounding!!

Last, but not least, this:



Most of the Butikofer grandkids. Only 2 are missing. . . the oldest grandchild, who couldn't be there, and Luke. Although this picture hurts the most, it is also the most precious. Look at all those beautiful kids. Family is EVERYTHING!!

So, that is what our holidays looked like and I think it looks pretty good.