Yes, the greatest gift is Jesus Christ and He Has Risen!  Crap, wrong holiday.  Anyhow, I just received perhaps the greatest gift I could imagine.  After church Joe and Bella were with me in my (let’s by honest, Rachel’s) room as I changed out of my suit (it is Christmas after all).  I asked them both if they were sad this Christmas with Trey being gone.  Bella said, “Yeah, he sure wanted a lot this Christmas.”  I said, “The beauty is he now has it all!”  Joe said that he too was sad but ok.  I went on and shared how my grandfather, Pop-Pop Bronner, always brought a huge bag of presents and that this Christmas Trey was getting them all.

I then asked them if they were as sad as they thought they would be and they both answered that they weren’t.  I told them that Rachel and I were just talking about this and came to the conclusion that we certainly are sad that he won’t be screaming his lungs out when he would see the living room floor covered in gifts.  However, the reality is he just as well (or perhaps more likely) could have been very sick and just hanging on.  He could be in the hospital, knowing that he was dying.  We all agreed that we were much better off this way.  Bella then told a story about how some of her classmates keep asking exactly when Trey died and how did we know he was dead and she told me that she says, “I don’t know!!!”  So I told them both that all we know is that he was asleep, we took them to school and when we went to wake him…he was gone.  I said that he went to bed with mommy and woke up with Jesus.  We then talked a bit more and had a great bed time.

What a gift!  Such open, honest, and oh so vulnerable conversations with my kids.  As we anticipate the morning we are eager to share this day as a family separated a little, but as one.  We are so glad that you are a part of this family with us.  We love you all and are ever so thankful for your prayers, interest and support.

Merry Christmas!