We appreciate the fact that Georgia will sleep in.. I think by next year and many after that she will be up at the crack of dawn to see what Santa brought her.. this year, she woke up at 9:30am.. thank you Georgia! Brian and I had been up late putting her new playroom together, we moved all of the guest bedroom furniture out to make room for some serious playtime! I decorated the room with reminders of love and support that have been sent to us.. I saved all of the cards and drawings that we were sent in the hospital and they are now lining the walls, the window ledge is filled pictures of family and a card that I bought long ago.. it reads, "Leap and the net will appear". The only new thing in that room is the climb and slide castle, something that we can use inside now and will be able to create our own "park" outside this summer.. thank you Santa!
The day was fun, watching Georgia open her gifts, showing her the new playroom and enjoying time together as a family. Georgia opened a gift from her cousins, is was soft blocks with photos on each side, of her cousins, auntie and uncle.. I had to bite my lip to keep from crying. I so wished that we could have been opening presents together.
The weight of all that is happening was painfully obvious but Brian and I would give each other a quick smile and move on. We hugged Georgia even more than we usually do (if that's possible) and told her how special she is. By the end of the day after I'd put her to bed I sat down in the living room and cried. There is not a doubt in my mind that Georgia is going to come through this with flying colors and that there will be many, many Christmas' to come but the immediate future looks really hard. I think the necessary absence of family on Christmas day weighed more than I anticipated. We love that both of our families did everything possible to make this a great Christmas for all of us and given the circumstances they succeeded but we're aiming higher for Christmas 2011.

The playroom all set to go...

Hey, that's my cousin!

Hi baby

Checking out her new digs

Down to business

Um dad, what are we doing?

What is that thing?

Ahh, a new teething toy

Hey, this place is great!