Christmas Snapshots

My next few posts will be different snapshots of my Christmas. Although this was not the first thing that happened (I'm jumping sequence), this was the thing that made me cry and will go down in the books as one of the most tender Christmas scenes I've witnessed.

Here's the back story.

My younger sister Hannah has been in Germany as an exchange student since the end of July. Since I live two states away from the rest of my family, I'm used to not seeing her. But it was particularly difficult to be home for Christmas without her there. I have two sisters, Abby & Christine, that are younger than Hannah and they are the ones who miss her presence at home on a daily basis.

Well, for Christmas Mom told Abby & Christine that they were getting a really big present. On Christmas day, after all of the presents had been distributed and we were opening them one-by-one, Abby & Christine got to a small, rectangular box. Mom said, "Okay girls, open this one up together, it is your big present." The two girls tore into the box and pulled out this.

Two Ziploc bags full of travel-sized accessories.

Christine asked, "Are we going on a trip?" Abby said, "Do we have bad hygiene?"

While they were trying to figure out their "big present," Mom wheeled in this behind them.

Perched on two new pieces of luggage, one for Abby & one for Christine.

The two of them were quiet for a moment while they registered what this gift meant. Then Abby put her hand over her mouth and said, tearily, "We get to see Hannah? I miss her so much!" No, "Whew whoo, a trip!" Or, "Yay, a week off of school!" Or even, "Yes! Our first time on a plane!" Instead, it was all about seeing the sister that they've been missing.

I was really glad that we were there to see that.