Christmas came a day early this year. We got to skype with Kennedy on Christmas Eve day!
Australia is 19 hours ahead of us so it was Christmas Day for Kennedy when she called.
We thought that would make her Christmas extra special (especially since she opened up all her presents on Christmas Eve) and we had much more time alone to skype with her on our Christmas Eve.
It took a few minutes to get up and running but then our hour together flew by. We spent about 35 minutes all chatting together as a family and then gave each person about 5 minutes to talk with her alone. We lost our connection when she was talking with Cassidy but we got her back on pretty quickly. Then just before saying good-bye, I wanted a family photo (imagine that!). So I had my camera on timer and a tri-pod. While we were getting our family photo, no one noticed that Kennedy had frozen in this pose on the computer! We lost connection with her again! Part of me was grateful that it happened this way since I didn't want to have to say Good-bye and push the end button on our call. We had already said good bye and told each other how much we loved each other so technically we were done with our call - just not emotionally! Then about 10 minutes later, after all the kids had gone back up stairs, I heard my skype calling again! It was her! She had to reset her Internet at the home she was at and just called back to say "good-bye". She looked so good and so happy! It made it harder seeing her live like that but at that the same time, it made it easier to have her gone seeing for yourself how happy she is being a full-time missionary. She stayed composed all up until about the very end when we picked up Bailey for her to see. Then she started crying and felt so bad for crying when she saw her dog! Then of course, it was downhill from there with the tears because it was Scott's turn to talk one on one with her. He actually held it together better than I thought he would. It was hard having her gone for Christmas, but if your child can't be with you on Christmas, this is the best place for them to be.
Then we had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner over at Uncle Bobby's and Aunt Julie's house. We had the traditional sub sandwiches and our Candy bar game.
Grandma C.C. joined us for Christmas again this year. She came in to town to watch the Shane Rushing kids while Shane and Julie took a quick anniversary get-a-away to Washington D.C. then stayed for Christmas.
Then we were back home to open Christmas jammies and pick one sibling gift to open.
The kids tried to make a pyramid pile like they did so cutely a few years ago - it was an utter fail. That look on Will's face is not just for show. It only got worse from here.
But they all made up in time for the annual sleepover in Cassidy's room.
Those smiles all embraced together and the smile on Kennedy's face today were all I needed for Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
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