Five Generations

My wife and I talked the other day about how the girls kind of got robbed of their first Christmas.  They were just seven and half weeks old at the time and only been home for about five of those.  So we were lucky to have even had a tree and our decorations up by the time Christmas rolled around.  Erin did order them personalized stockings and we bought two or three "Baby's First Christmas" outfits for the different visits to the grandparent's houses.

But it wasn't as big as a production as it could have been.  Sure everyone was excited to see them on Christmas, but the majority of people had already visited at one time or another in the weeks leading up to the holiday.  This gave the whole weekend an anticlimactic feel.  It was just one more day of family seeing the girls except there was too much food and too many presents involved.

The whole process of taking the girls on the road and up to the in-laws and then to my parents was the big deal.  This was the first time we were taking them a distance further than a few miles.  But we now know how efficiently we can pack the car, so we're definitely thankful for that.

The biggest reason for us to get out of the house and make the long trek to Sutter Creek to see my family was the potential of taking a very special photograph.  With the birth of my girls, we now had five living generations in my family.  And we didn't want to miss the opportunity to have those five generations (My Great Grandma Helen, my Grandpa Dave, my mom, me and Grace and Ana) in a picture together.

It was something special to have my girls spend time with my Great Grandma (GG).  Someone who had seen and experienced so much in her life was holding my girls.  She had lived through the Depression, a World War, a moon landing and so much more, but she couldn't imagine anything better than seeing these little things staring up at her.  She was tough as nails and wouldn't hesitate to keep you in line, but Grace and Ana were perfect in her eyes.  She was married to a clown (no kidding my Great Grandpa George was actually a clown), but her smile was never so big as when she was holding those girls.  And she wanted nothing more than to have all of us in the same room together, sharing stories and passing it all along to the next generation.

Their Great, Great Grandma passed away this weekend, so Grace and Ana won't remember meeting her. 
I was so thankful to have that time, and I'm sure my girls will look at the pictures from that weekend.  They'll ask about all the people in the pictures we took.  And I'll tell them about their Great, Great Grandma Helen.  How if they have any piss and vinegar in them that it came from her.  That she was one of the strongest women their dad had ever known, and that all the women in this family had learned from that strength.

She'll be missed but never forgotten.

Five Generations