Missing link

Lizzy had a great first Christmas.

So cute in her PEI Cows T-shirt from Rebekah.

The only way I can describe the pictures of ML's granddaughter Rebekah this year is that they are exquisitely beautiful and painful at the very same time.

Mary Lynn had already purchased this stroller before she got sick.

Rebekah was not sure who should ride in it at first.

But in the end her mommy Jennifer's childhood friend had the honours.

I don't even have words to explain how much I love these pictures and yet hate that ML was not there to see Rebekah open her gift.

I figured I could cry just as well outside as inside.

Tomorrow is our family dinner here. It'll be the first time most of us are together since the funeral. For a lot of us this was the main time of year that we saw ML. What an amazing effort she made to stay close to us. What a trek it was every year for her and Philip with three boys rattling around in the back of their roofing truck to drive to Ontario. They didn't rattle much on the way home because the truck was full of gear from the stockyards.

One time Philip had trailer axels sticking out the sides and got pulled over for that but the police didn't notice the human cargo.

I loved the boy's stories of riding back there. Their main method of communication was to hold up signs which were not always heeded. There are very few pit stops in Quebec. Beautiful scenery, awesome town names but zero OnRoutes. Or rather PQRoutes. Anyway Brent says that they eventually learned that three teenage boys rocking in tandem can create enough of a disturbance in the force to create an exit from the highway.

When the boys were grown and working ML would often fly home and a whole new generation of Christmas Eve memories were created.

I dunno how we will feel tomorrow. We'll probably mostly be busy chasing kids and eating and playing games like every other year. But something really exquisite will be missing.

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