A bittersweet week

Matt and I traveled home to my parents last Saturday and so began the Christmas week. We spent 2 days with my parents then traveled half-an-hour down the road to spend Christmas Eve with Matt's family. After opening presents Christmas Eve morning we piled into the car and headed to Pennsylvania. This was the first year I was able to participate in the family regifting tradition. I think Matt got the best gift...an animated shadow box nativity scene. When you pull the string it plays music as the nativity characters move back and forth across the box. Ha ha! We spent Christmas day at Grandma and Grandpa White's. We ate lots of food and enjoyed time with family!

Upon our return to NYS we went back to Matt's parent's house and did a whole lot of relaxing. Oh, we also saw "I am Legend." A highly recommended movie!

It was Thursday morning when the week took a turn. I had been in contact with my parents on a regular basis after hearing that Dad spent Christmas day in the emergency room. He was in a lot of pain, and after some tests it was determined it was gall-bladder related. When dad called Thursday morning, I thought it was for a quick update. He had other news to share:

A friend from high school had been killed in a farming accident. Collin had the greatest ability to befriend anyone, and lived life in pursuit of his dreams and goals. I believe in his 23 years he pursued and accomplished more than some will do in an entire lifetime. Regretfully, Collin and I hadn't had much contact over the last year. The last time I saw him was at a wedding in June 2006.
I spent the next few days struggling with the emotions of this tragedy. Even now I find myself struggling to understand the loss of such a great young man. I hold on to the many great memories with a great friend.
Matt and I attended the calling hours on Saturday evening and were amazed by the number of people that came...clearly showing the many lives Collin had touched in his 23 years.


Saturday night Matt and I headed to my sister's. Our whole family was together for the Brown family Christmas :). It was a great day to catch up and enjoy family time.

I'll post pictures soon...