"November 2014 my world came to a crashing halt with the unexpected passing of my husband.  With the holiday season just beginning, and three young children at home, the last thing I felt like doing was celebrating the holidays. Every year my husband took great pride in being the “Clark Griswold” of the neighborhood.  This was something I couldn’t do mentally (not to mention i am deathly afraid of heights). I knew the kids would be disappointed when the house would look even more somber in this festive season.  The boxes and boxes of lights and decorations would have to remain in their storage spot until I had the mental strength to open what my husband so carefully put away each year! As Christmas drew near the kids kept asking how Santa was going to find our house without the lights?? Every time they would say that the sadness inside me grew, I was so lost without my husband.  My once beautifully decorated house sat dark during this season- it reflected the sadness i felt. 

 

"A friend of mine set up an evening for the kids and I at the Cincinnati Zoo to go see the Christmas light menagerie, and hear sweet Christmas carols- it was a nice night away.  Little did I know, while we were gone a scurry of activity was happening at my house!!  The night for the kids and I drew to an end, it was nice to escape the sadness for a bit and enjoy some time together.  We loaded and back home we went… The kids and I sang Christmas carols, and reminisced about previous Christmases, all while fighting back the tears of missing their dad. 

 

"As we came upon our street, we all noticed something at the same moment…There was LIGHT coming from out house!  Our once dark, undecorated house of sadness was beaming!  It was covered in the most beautiful lights, and inflatables!!  Santa was on the roof in a helicopter!!!  The kids unbuckled their seatbelts and squealed with delight!! NOW SANTA WILL COME!!  I pulled in the driveway with so many tears that i could not see…I had no idea who made this happen, it was the REAL magic of Christmas!  I couldn’t even get out of the car, I knew how proud Eric would be.  Every night from then on until Christmas, the kids would run outside just to see our house light up the sky!  I will never forget how much that meant to us. 

 

"That year Christmas meant more to us than the gifts under the tree, it was the kindness of strangers that touched us in such a dark tragic time.  I am  forever thankful to you for making our Christmas a little more special that year..  To this very day, every year as we go gout to decorate, the kids tell the story of “The people dad sent to decorate because he couldn’t” …"

 

With Gratitude- The Sierra’s