Lasts. . . .

Do you ever get a feeling that it’s going to be the last time for something?  Sometimes that “last” is welcome and known, like the last high school football game to watch the marching band perform their half time show.  But the worst kind of “last”s are the ones you don’t want to be a last and you don’t know for sure that it is one.  (Maybe it’s a blessing that you don’t know for sure!)
I had that feeling when I had my last child.  I think the Holy Ghost nudged me to enjoy every moment, every “last” first event.  And I did!
I had the feeling of a “last” this time for Christmas, that there would never be one like it again.  There would no longer be just the five of us following our favorite Christmas traditions.  The previous two Christmases (however you spell that) left us incomplete, with Jennifer and David on missions, but that was okay because they were where they were supposed to be.
So I was determined to enjoy THIS Christmas with my family complete.
I’m not sure if we even decorated the tree (the danger of blogging about it 9 months after the fact).

But we did send off a Christmas card (even if we didn’t manage to get a family photo.)

The kids, for years, spent the night together in the same room, but David refused to this year   He even got up first.

Let us not forget the entire reason we gather to celebrate. . .

Now I don’t know for certain that it was truly a “last” but the prompting was there and I took the time to enjoy every minute of it.

Hike around Spooner

We wanted to get our fill of Allie before she left so we decided to take around Spooner Lake, just up the mountain.  Sadly we got a late start. . . .creeps me out. (especially the guy who was camping out that scared us . . .meaning me. . when he said hi.)
But we got some cool photos at sunset/dusk!