We started to prepare for what we hoped would be our last Christmas in the house. We went to a local tree farm and found the perfect 10 foot Christmas tree, our smallest ever. The kids were all coming home for the holidays and we wanted it to be a good one. My sister and her family joined us for a family dinner on December 23rd, my father's birthday, a tradition we had been part of forever. We all missed Dad a lot and shared many fond memories of him.

On Christmas day we had an open house and many of our and our kid's friends dropped in on their way to other commitments. I think overall a good time was had by all, mixed with some sadness of knowing this was probably the last Christmas in the house after 20 years.

I thought we were making great progress with the whole liquidation process, clearing out cupboards and closets of things I hadn't seen in years! Where on earth did some of this stuff come from? Actually, we had cleared out so much of my parent's stuff, first when they moved next door, then when Dad died and then again when Mom moved into the retirement home. In our own clearing out process we found more of their belongings that needed to go. I vowed then, that my children would never have to do that for me. I will never leave so much meaningless "junk" for others to dispose of. We humans gather way too much unnecessary stuff that will never have any meaning or purpose to anyone after we are gone.