The Christmas Letter Tradition

The Christmas Letter is a tradition in a lot of homes around this time. However, in the Gardner household, it takes on a different meaning. We do not send out a standard Christmas Letter to our family and friends, instead, our Christmas Letter is a love letter written to one another.

We actually started the tradition because we did not have enough money to buy each other a gift on Christmas. We decided to write a letter in lieu of a gift and placed it on the tree with a pretty bow. Then on Christmas morning we sat cuddled together with a cup of coffee and opened our letters. The first year of the Christmas Letter created an annual outpouring of love. Even after we could afford gifts, we have honored and cherished this precious gift more than any material item that could be purchased. Therefore, we still do not buy gifts, as our letters are more precious than rubies.

Our letters go on our tree every year, and we open the current year on Christmas morning together. The letters share about our year and express how our love has grown, transformed, and been shaped based on our experiences and journey in Christ together and apart. Now, we have a letter for every year God has blessed us in marriage, a full tree, and a sweet record of our life together from both our perspectives.

On Christmas morning we are both excited to read that year's Christmas Letter, and then we reread the letters from the previous years. We reminisce, laugh, and cry as we walk back through the years of love and life. The 2020 Christmas Letter will be full of interesting events, as we have had significant life transitions and challenges, but I am excited that through all the uncertainty of this year there is a love letter that will be waiting like always.

Merry Christmas to all of you, and may your Christmas traditions and celebrations be full of love. We pray you are blessed with the gifts that come from the greatest love letter of all time, The Holy Bible. May you know that you are loved no matter who you are or where you are, and His words were written with love.

Comments

Buella (cancer) Has Spread

Buella was entirely removed along with five lymph nodes and all the breast tissue they could remove on both sides. The tissues and tumor were sent for pathological testing. The report came back and was not what we hoped for. Buella has spread to the lymphovascular system, lymph nodes, and tissue around the nodes. Buella was also less than 1 mm away from the chest wall, so cancer cells are likely in the chest wall too. The tumor grade was thought to be a Grade 1 before surgery (not aggressive), and has now been determined to be a Grade 3 (most aggressive and has the highest recurrence rate). The news was hard to receive as I was praying for it to be all contained in the single tumor, and that would mean just surgeries and careful watching for a bit. However, this is not the story of my journey. I will need radiation, and we are waiting for the Oncotype test to come back to determine the need and type of chemotherapy. This will take 4 weeks, and we cannot start any treatment u...

Well, Poo: Update on Cancer Treatment

The radiation oncologist entered our room in a medical halo, looking very uncomfortable and much like an image of Frankenstein. He was healing after suffering an injury to his neck in a swimming pool two weeks ago. "How are you doing?" he asked with genuine care and concern. "Well, obviously, better than you at this point," I replied as I internally scolded myself for complaining about the rough nights sleeping in a recliner the past 6 weeks. He smiled and said, "Yeah, maybe so." Then we got down to business. He reminded me that before surgery, we had discussed the possibility of doing radiation. He had laid out some clear signs that it would be necessary. Buella (the cancer) had spread to the nodes (CHECK) Tumor is greater than 2 cm (CHECK) There are cancer cells in the Lymphovascular system (CHECK) There are unclean or close margins from tumor edges to chest wall (<1 mm CHECK) You are premenopausal (CHECK) Each component increases the odds of lo...

What a BALDLY Beautiful Day!

Today is a day of goodness and joy, not of despondency and fear. A day when I was blessed to wake up next to my best friend of thirty years, in a home that God has helped us build, filled with love and hope. A day to be thankful for all the ways our compassionate Father shows His faithfulness, and another opportunity for His love to transform and deepen my relationship with Jesus. Going bald is a side effect of chemotherapy, and it is one I kept pushing down the road on this breast cancer journey as much as I could. The hair has been falling out for weeks, and the loss intensified after the third chemotherapy round. The handfuls of hair coming out in the shower were scary at first, and then as the nausea grew worse with the medicine, the more overwhelming it felt. Gavin had to comb and remove as much as he could on days I was really nauseated while I kept my eyes shut. However, something I never knew was the actual pain involved when the hair follicles are dying, and the wei...

Inside the Mind of an Educator

Search This Blog