My reflections on the holidays

As I occasionally view the blogs of family and friends, I know that these were what kept Katie going through some of the tough times she was facing.  I have to say the same for me.  I honestly have not felt like doing much with the blog over the past few weeks and not because we did not did not have a great Christmas and New Years.  The kids enjoyed the break with Grandpa Hansen and Uncle John coming for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and also the Grovers for Christmas Day.  We spent New Years Eve and Day with Katie's family.  I am a little envious at times at the fun times that my kids have with their grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.  Growing up, my family holidays were spent at home because we had no grandparents or other family members to go to.  It was just us and that is all that we knew.  As my sisters got married and had their own families, it was always fun to have them come home with their families.  The holidays became something we looked forward to more and more because of the chance to be together.  When Katie and I got married, our first four Christmases were spent with our families.  The third Christmas, as our big car was packed to overflowing and we only had Jeffrey in the car, I said, "That is enough.  We will do this one more year and then we are staying at home."  Our Christmases from that point were with just our family with visits to our extended family coming throughout the week between Christmas and New Years.  Being without Katie and my Mom this year at Christmas has been hard.  The memories that we have of past Christmases are all that we have to hold onto.  Visits to our families have and will never quite be the same.   People lose loved ones all the time.  Death is part of life.  It is always easy to view other people's loss through your own eyes and think that life will get better for them.  I have gained a whole new perspective over this past year, and especially the past two months.  I have greater empathy for those that have lost family members, especially their spouse.  I do know that life will get better for us, and that through the Savior's atonement, we will not feel the loss as greatly as we feel it now, but we will still feel it.   This loss of our loved ones should be a compass for us to live our lives the best that we can so that we can be together with them again.  It is this hope that keeps us going in life through these difficult times.

I started back to school this week and it has been good to see and teach my kids again.  They even said that they missed me.  Mary has been doing well with daycare.

Thank you for all of your love, prayers, and support.

Dennis