This Christmas . . .

As you might expect our Christmas was entirely different this year. Without Trav how could it be the same? Up until two Christmas' ago, he and I planned my family's Christmas party. I was in charge of setting up the room and he was in charge of collecting the gift's, meeting the Santa outside so Santa could make his entrance and then paying Santa for stopping by. On Christmas Eve, he would charge up the camcorder, tape the kids opening their one Christmas Eve present (always pajamas). In the morning, I was the one who woke up first, I would wake him up asking him, "When do you think they are going to wake up?" He always thought that was funny, that I was up before them. So, ya, it was different.


Even though he is not here where we can see him, we can feel him. Our love for him does not stop, we can still love him and send him our love and he can still receive it.

My niece Angie heard of this awesome idea of using your loved one's shirts and making them into "Memory Bears". I'm in a quandary as to what to do with Trav's clothes. I plan on making a quilt with some of them, but for some special shirts I thought this was a great idea. I've posted the link on where I ordered them. Carrie is great to work with and she is located in Utah.







Shuffleboard, anyone?

Then we were off on our adventure. Many months back, I booked a cruise for us over Christmas, the thought of spending Christmas here was unbearable. I decided on Carnival Cruise Lines and chose to go to the Mexican Rivera (Puerta Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas).

Before our trip, I was again amazed by the generosity of Trav's friend's/co-worker's when I was presented with over $600.00 that they raised. As I've stated to many others, Trav's legacy lives on in these fine people. The impact he had in their lives must be great for them because they just keep on giving.

The Sunday prior to Christmas we were off for 7 days of sea, sun and fun. The first two days of our cruise was at sea. The girls checked out the teen club, after that I barely saw Ashtin all week. My only form of communication with her was leaving notes in the room, telling her to meet us for dinner. Oh well, that's what teenagers are supposed to do. There were over 750 children on the ship with many, many things for them to keep them occupied. We played numerous games of BINGO, watched Karaoke, comedians, and variety shows. Oh and the food . . . and unlimited amounts for frozen yogurt and ice cream. Heaven. We also saw dolphins swimming along side the ship.

In Puerta Vallarta, we went zip lining, as you can see from the picture Ashtin was not too keen on the idea, but she did great. Like I told her, "Never let fear hold you back, sistah." On Christmas Day we were in Mazatlan, not my favorite of the three, but we had great weather and some fun. In Cabo San Lucas, we tried snorkeling, which it wasn't the greatest, but I thought it was a great first snorkle for the kids.

All in all we had a great time. I got to see a whale out in the distance, as I drank my coffee on the back deck of the ship. Early mornings were for me to think and of course, talk to Trav. I'm sure he was saying that we deserved to get away after the year we've had. We missed him on the trip, though. The kids would mention him when we saw a t-shirt he would like, or we would imagine what he would say when we saw different people on the ship. Nope, he wasn't forgotten. In the harbor in Cabo we saw a boat and on it, it said "fearless". When Travis thought he beat cancer, he planned to get a new tatt with a drawing of us holding hands and "fearless" written under it. He wrote me a letter that said when I held his hand, that's how he felt. So, I know it was a sign from him when we saw this boat. I know he was telling us, to keep going, but he's not far.



Here we go, a new year, different lives, but with his courage. Always.