Yesterday I was very excited because we were finally getting to celebrate Christmas with Chris’s side of the family!  Yippee! There just was not time before Christmas and with getting Carlton all moved to his new home with Chris’s sister and family it was just too much.  So we opted for yesterday.

It was a little difficult to celebrate in the house with so many memories of Christmases past but all in all I think we did okay.  Carlton has settled into the the groove mostly in the new place and we were so happy to see that he seems to be doing well.  There are things, of course, which are going to take some time.  But all in all, he seems to be doing really well.  And that is what made the day.  Knowing that he is going to be okay.  Colleen and Bryan and Meredith are going to be the best support for him and while I am missing the guy it is definitely time to move on and allow this to be the new normal.

The great part—-I got to cook dinner for everyone!   The full gamut–ham, hash brown casserole, green bean casserole, etc.!  Yum.  We all sat around the table, thanked God for our blessings, and delved in!

Of course presents were exchanged and even though we had already given Carlton his new TV as a present before Christmas he had a few special things to open also which made him happy!  It is so wonderful to see him coming back out of his shell and engaging with all of us again.  The move is going to be so good for him.   It makes my heart happy.

Thanks so much to all of you out there who have asked and who have supported us with prayer during the past 6 months or so.  The end is in sight.   At least this part!   The house is getting cleaned and we hope to resume our normal lives (or whatever normal is for us) by early February.  It has not been easy but it is time.  Time to move on and get to the next stage.  Time to let go of Carlton a little bit and allow him to explore his new life in his new surroundings.   Never mind that he tried to take the toilet paper from the house here……some things will never change!