Category: Traditions

Festival of Trees

The Festival of Trees is a big Christmas tradition here in Utah. Groups and individuals decorate and donate trees, wreaths, crafts and more. They’re displayed to the public for a week, and available for sale. All proceeds from sales, admissions, and goodies sold are donated back to Primary Children’s Hospital to help families in need.

We took Patrick to the Festival tonight. He wasn’t so sure about the crowds and was only vaguely interested in the trees. He did really like the chains used to protect the trees and the excuse to ride with Daddy and pull Mommy’s hair. At the end of the evening, we took him to meet Santa, which was a pretty good 1st Santa experience. Patrick loved his beard and sleigh bells.

This year’s Festival was a bit bittersweet for Brian and myself. There were a couple of trees there honoring friends’ children who passed on this year. Those brought tears to our eyes. It meant all the more to know first-hand the tender moments that happen in a children’s hospital. Just one way that Patrick has changed our lives and hearts for the better.

Patrick’s 1st Birthday Party

Patrick had SUCH a good birthday! He could tell from the party preparations the night before that something good was going on. He watched me decorate his birthday cake… and then was too happy and excited to go to sleep.

He did, though, finally, and when he got up in the morning, he was again just HAPPY! It’s like he knew this was a big day.

Because Patrick’s birthday is on Halloween, we dressed up and invited guests to do the same. We chose a circus theme for the party. Patrick was dressed as a monkey. Brian was the ringmaster. I was a clown.

We spent the morning finishing things up for the party. He thought watching me hang streamers was great fun! (I used red and white streamers to create the feel of a circus tent in our living room.) About 1 we changed into costumes.. he loved my clown wig and played with it for most of the rest of the day.

Slowly the guests arrived. Because Brian and I have brothers, sisters and parents nearby, we knew there would be a lot of grown-ups… so we made all the circus activities self-serve. The adults helped the kids paint their faces and learned to make balloon animals for them. We had popcorn and animal crackers and caramel apples.

Of course, most everyone came in costume. Some carried on the circus theme… My dad came as a lion tamer, with my mom dressed as his lion. My brother was a magician.

Some of the friends and family who dressed up

Once everyone arrived, we sang Happy Birthday and Brian blew out Patrick’s candle. (Patrick was too confused about why everyone was singing and just kept watching me to see if it was OK.)

He’s not allowed sugar, so he couldn’t have cake, but he was given permission this week to have cheetos and hulless popcorn, so that’s what he munched on instead.

Daddy’s better than any boring old snack.

Then we opened presents. He got lots of new toys and some new clothes. He loved them all, but I think his favorite thing about the party was not the gifts, but the fact that all the people he loved best were there.

Patrick & “Papa”, Brian’s dad

Patrick and Grandpa, Emily’s Dad

The party wrapped up around 6. All the kids went home with hands full of balloons, balloon animals, caramel apples, and cracker jacks with faces all painted. I think everyone had a really good time!

That put us just on time for trick-or-treaters. Patrick didn’t go trick-or-treating this year… he’s too little and not allowed candy anyway. At first he liked seeing all the people who came to the door. Eventually he got tired and not too happy when people would ring the doorbell. Eventually I sat him on my lap and we read books until we were sure he was good and tired. Then, we turned off the porch light and put him in bed. He was exhausted, and so were we.We all crashed for the night.

Gotcha Day

In the adoption community, the day an adoption is finalized is known as your “gotcha day.” Well, miraculous as it is, Patrick’s adoption was finalized on January 7th.

It took a couple of days for the news to get to us, and a week before the papers arrived and it really seemed real. But, late as the news is in arriving on this blog, it is true.

LDS Family Services’ lawyers were amazing and petitioned the court for early finalization so that there would be no legal hurdles to our taking Patrick out of state to be evaluated for transplant. And, well, the court agreed.

In following his holiday tradition, we submitted our part of the petition on Christmas Eve. But Patrick managed to finally have his own day in his gotcha day. January 7th is the day after we celebrate the Italian tradition of Befana in our house and wrap up our Christmas season.

We’ve made arrangements to go to the LDS temple with him on February 13th so that we can be sealed for time and eternity as a family. This is a special ceremony in our faith. We believe that marriage and families are intended by God to be eternal, not till death do us part. Marriages performed in LDS temples are performed for time and for eternity and children born into an “eternal” marriage are likewise a part of that family for eternity. A sealing ceremony provides that same promise for adopted children. Patrick will be tied to our family as though he had been born to us. This is something that his birth family wanted for him and a day that we have been looking forward to for a long time.

Patrick’s First Christmas

Although this picture may not reveal it, Patrick had a very nice first Christmas. It almost came and went, we’ve been so busy. It was a definite feat to get Christmas letters out (sorry to those of you who are still waiting), goodies made (again, sorry if you haven’t gotten yours yet), the tree up (only took a week of intermittent effort) and presents bought and wrapped.

But the most important elements of Christmas were still there. Brian and I had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and Patrick played in his bouncy seat nearby and enjoyed his feast of 14 mL’s of formula. We opened our Christmas Eve pajamas (another family tradition), and Patrick loved his so much that he slept his best night yet in his. We decided it was probably the last year we could get away with sneakily opening our other presents on Christmas Eve (this is a remnant of being the kidless ones who travel around to family on Christmas Day)… so we opened all our presents before going to bed. All in all, considering everything that’s happened in the past month, it was still a very nice Christmas. I can’t wait to find he time to dig into the books that Howie bought me.

Patrick’s had presents rolling in all week, so we only wrapped him one for Christmas… a gloworm that he loved so much when we found it in the store that we had to buy it. But he was definitely spoiled by friends and family… and we were able to finally just about finish getting his nursery furniture, appliances (yes, he has his own fridge), and decorations together.

We spent the afternoon and evening… and actually all weekend… visiting with family. Everyone loves holding Patrick so much that I have a hard time keeping track of it so that it’s fair for everyone. It was fun to be able to share him with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

We’re hoping for one more miracle this Christmas and will post details about it as soon as we know if our wish comes true.