Hoping for an uneventful Christmas!

Last night, Jason, Emery and I visited our local firestation to donate a toy to their "spark of love," holiday toy drive. I had never heard of this before, but my division participated as apart of our holiday party this year on campus. I loved that our local police and fire departments took toys to children that teachers and councelors had identified as underprivlaged. It wasn't a program where random people, with plenty of resources, could show up, just for the free toy.
As most of our friends and family know, last year, on Christmas Eve, we had to call 911 and the same local firefighters came to our home. Emery had a febrille seizure, something we knew nothing about, or that it was hereditary from my mother-in-law's side of the family. All we knew was that Emery had a fever for about 24 hours and it wasn't going down... after a cool bath she started shaking and turned blue. It was our first christmas together and all I could think of was that my perfect little girl was going to die on Christmas Eve. But, it turns out that these types of seizures are more common than we knew...and that when you seize, you naturally stop breathing, but begin again on your own. However, if it ever happened again, and it could, you better believe I am calling 911. It was terrifying. Even thinking about it now has me tearing up. And, with Christmas just a few days away, I can't help but think about that first Christmas. I am praying for an uneventful Christmas.
We were so thankful to the speed in which the fire fighters responded to our home, and how patient they were with me... As you can imagine, I was hysterical. Emery has so much. She is so spoiled and loved. She never goes without her hearts desire. We truly hope that our one toy will go to a child that will love it.
We decided this is going to be a new Christmas tradition for our family. We want to give back during the holidays and teach Emery to give to other children that are not as fortunate as she is. In future years we may expand our service, as she gets older and wants to try new things. I was so lucky to have a family that was passionate about service to others and lead by example. I hope to set that example for Miss Emery and instill in her a love for giving back... this is just one small way we can start that new tradition for our family now.
I am so loving the new traditions we are starting for our own family.

xoxo