And to all a good night

We have been hearing whisperings for a while now about an organization called Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation (CCCF) and a fantastic Christmas party they throw every year. Then we heard more whisperings that it was for Utah County families and you have to be referred and invited. We even had a nurse in a nearby ER who was on the CCCF board talk to us about joining. Along the way a fellow cancer mom friend gave me a phone number to call to start the process, but life got busy and I largely forgot about it. Right before Thanksgiving we got a call from a CCCF board member saying she had a referral with our names and would like to invite us to their upcoming Christmas party. I'm so thankful to whoever referred us and got the process going! We attended the family Christmas party last night and it was incredible! On our way home, I told Eric that it almost felt Make A Wish-esque - as we walked out with more gifts and goodies than we could carry and with so many people falling all over themselves to make sure we had a wonderful time. The joy and excitement in the room was tangible and you could tell that all the volunteers truly loved and believed in what they were doing - it very much reminded me of the people we've met at Make A Wish. It was a wonderful, festive night and we felt SO loved. It was the true spirit of Christmas embodied.

I don't know where to begin - there was dinner, Santa, presents to choose from in Santa's workshop, a princess to meet, Christmas crafts, game booths manned by the BYU basketball team, Cosmo, and lots of prizes, goodies (Blankets and BYU basketball tickets and frozen turkeys, oh my!), and good socializing to be had. We had so much fun!

We got to see lots of people we already knew and then met some new families, too. As we were finishing up dinner, Cosmo came by to "chat" with Elena. She is a big fan of everything BYU and was very excited to see him. :)

After dinner, we took Elena and Lily to meet Santa. Elena was very excited to sit on his lap and said that she wants a doll. A little random... that has not been on her list at home. :) Lily didn't want anything to do with Santa, but I can't really blame her. I don't think Santa gets exciting til your a little older - when you're little I think the sight is just a little overwhelming and freaky. Lily was content to cling to me, lick her candy cane, and give Santa a good crusty face. :)

Elena had to think really hard...

Each kid got to pick out a gift from Santa's Workshop. The selection was impressive. It was very nice stuff! The night before, Eric and I were invited to the "Adult only" night and got to pick out some gifts for our girls. Last night was fun because they basically got turned loose in a room full of awesome stuff and got to pick out anything. It was fun to see them get so excited - I think getting to choose their own thing really helped them to "own it". 

Elena chose a Snow White dress (and p.s. I want to hurt Blogger right now.... it won't center this picture... so random)

Lily was very excited about this Elmo doll/backpack. It was very sweet.

(Another picture that won't center) Elena and the Princess - Miss Provo

Then we headed over to the games. There was "fishing", a snowball toss, a place to spin the wheel for a prize, and shooting hoops with the basketball team.

Elena and Craig Cusick at the "snowball toss"

Lily had her turn, too. (She loves the "Bohls!!")

Elena at Noah Hartsock's booth 

There was fun for the big kids, too. Eric got his BYU basketball posters signed by all the players. :)

Some of the sweet little volunteers helped Elena reach the basket

And played with Lily

Lily and Brandon Davies - it was hard to fit them both in the same frame. Haha... he's a little tall.

Brandon Davies was so sweet with the kids!

Coach Rose talked for a bit and then the team got up and sang us a few carols. :)

It was just an incredible night! We felt so much love and support. You couldn't go more than about 5 minutes without one of the volunteers coming up to ask your name, see how your child was doing, ask if you were having fun, give you something, or want to hear your story. I was so impressed by them - you could see it in their eyes and smiles that they loved being there, were happy to serve, and really, really believed in what they were doing. We ran into the ER nurse we had last year - she is a great example of the type of tremendous people running things. Her son was diagnosed with a very bad, rare form of AML and passed away unexpectedly the day after he was diagnosed after having a very scary, traumatic brain hemmorrhage. That was several years ago and yet she serves year after year at this foundation for children with cancer in his memory.

Anyways... I could go on and on. I think we've found another organization that we love. Not a single person gets paid at CCCF - they just volunteer their time and resources and talents because they know there are people who are hurting and who need a little Christmas. There are so many genuinely wonderful and good people in the world. That has been one of the silver linings of cancer - we've seen the good in people like never before as people have been so kind to us and our other cancer friends. If we weren't in the Christmas spirit before, we sure are now! :)

If you want to read the story a local newspaper ran on the event you can click here.