Moving Forward

Time marches on and that doesn't mean that we've forgotten Adler, only that life has gone on without her. We remember her daily in our conversations together and in our own private thoughts, and the holiday season is no different. We hung her stocking up as we usually would (and we will every year in remembrance of her) and her framed "Forever in Our Hearts" picture sits right next to it on our mantel. Don't get me wrong, there's still a hole the size of a Bernese Mountain Dog in our hearts, but we must celebrate and honor her life and that means continuing to do all the things that she loved to do with us. One of those things was just being outside walking with us on a cold and/or snowy night.

This past weekend we did just that. We hit up our local Holiday Walk.  There were trains, hot chocolate, Santa Claus, pizza and lots of Christmas Cheer. The kids had fun going into the stores for cookies or fun little giveaways too and just running around and seeing their friends.

Later in the weekend, we visited a great light display at our local arboretum where millions of lights were wrapped around their many varieties of trees and set to music. It was beautiful walking around their grounds at night, stopping at the bonfires set along the way to roast marshmallows and warm up.

The weekend weather was perfect. Not too cold, but cold enough to feel it when you breathed in deep the cold night air. The stars above twinkled brightly like so many other lights this season. Perfect nights leading up to one of my favorite holidays. So much festivities, so much cheer, so much still to be grateful for this season even though there will always be a Berner-sized hole left in our hearts.