Day 760

     We had another fun week together.  We had the opportunity (from Hopekids) to go to the Nutcracker Ballet, and we loved it.  I wasn't sure Conner would like it, but to my surprise he seemed to enjoy it more than Katie did, he was mesmerized by it.  At one point during the ballet, Katie leaned over to her dad and asked, "Dad, why is that man a ballerina?"  Of course Scott chuckled and said something like," I don't know, men shouldn't be ballerina's should they..."  So then Katie leaned over to me and asked me the same question, and I told her, "Because he is a good dancer - look how high he can jump and how many turns he can do in the air."  Katie still seemed perplexed by the idea.  The music was wonderful, the lighting and costumes beautiful, and the dancing enchanting.  It was a very nice night out.
     We have also been busy getting everything ready for Christmas.  Scott hung the outdoor Christmas lights yesterday, and we made sugar cookies together as a family.  Katie and I made the dough, Scott rolled it out, and Katie and Conner helped cut out the cookies and decorate them - and then we all enjoyed eating them!  Last night we went to a toy train display, saw Santa Claus, and then we went out to dinner. Zach is in town, and he joined in on our festivities.  It was another fun day together.
     However, our fun is going to come to a screeching halt this week.  Katie is getting a spinal tap and IV chemo on Wednesday.  I had the foresight to ask the doctor to have an IV of fluids ready for Katie upon our arrival at the clinic.  We do not want her blood sugars to drop like they did last time (if we can possibly avoid it).  Katie is always scheduled first thing in the morning due to her hypoglycemia...  This round of chemo is extra hard on her - and it is especially hard if she needs to get an IGG infusion as well (we won't know if she needs that until they do her blood tests).  BUT this will be her LAST spinal tap!  We are so GLAD!!!  (Just one more IV chemo next month - and then she is done!)
     "Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values. It is peace because we have found peace in the Savior’s teachings. It is the time we realize most deeply that the more love is expended, the more there is of it for others."
(Thomas S. Monson, "Christmas Is Love", 2012 First Presidency Christmas Devotional, December 2012)