Bristol

No, I didn't name my dog after Bristol Palin. If you've met my husband, you know that his 2 favorite channels are NESN (New England Sports Network) and ESPN. His favorite program, Sports Center is broadcast in Bristol, Connecticut. In other words: sports'ish related for him, and a nice, feminine name for me.

Christmas was a little intense for us.

We spent the holiday in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania [the heart of the Poconos] with his grandparents, because this year? Is Poppi's last Christmas. He was diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal  cancer shortly after our wedding in October, but when doctors opened him up in surgery: found the cancer much more aggressive and widespread than the scans showed. Hence, a permanent feeding tube. My mother was a respiratory therapist for many years ... but I'm definitely not used to someone "blowing their nose" so to speak through a trach. 

He is only expected to make it until March ... and saying our final goodbyes as we left on Christmas Day was, well ...

Intense.

I fell apart. Drew fell apart.  But it's not fair to be sad knowing Poppi is in enormous pain.

The sunshine after the rain of course, was picking up baby Bristol in New Holland (near Lancaster, PA) on Christmas Day... who by the way, slept the entire 8 hour trip back to Maine.

All in all, it was wonderful to be with family for the holidays.