On the 14th day of our 25 Days of Christmas we experienced a national tragedy that made us change our plans for the day. On the morning of December 14th, 2012, a lone gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in New Haven, Connecticut and ruthlessly killed 20 young children and 6 adults. After the massacre the gunman turned the gun on himself, taking away the opportunity for families to get justice and confront the man who stole their children's lives and other children's innocence.
It was a very difficult day for all of us; as a preschool teacher it broke my heart thinking of those scared and helpless children- they probably have Christmas presents wrapped and under the tree and just wanted Santa to find their names on the nice list. I couldn't help but cry and thank God for the children that were spared and that my own child is healthy and happy. Brad was very somber, thinking about how he may one day have to respond to a call like that. Brad has responded to domestic calls involving children and custody disputes, he hates every second of those but a Elementary School shooting? Unimaginable. My sister is also going into law enforcement and she was faced with the fact that she will have to deal with violence on children and how will she handle that?
I think, as a nation, we saw that evil does exist and that anyone of us could have to face it. The sorrow in the world on December 14th is indescribable.
We were planning on going ice skating with Santa, but instead decided that we need something comforting and go to a place to refocus. We went to a church. This church in particular has a drive through nativity. It sounds kind of gimmicky but when we looked into it more it was a beautiful concept. At the beginning of the road you are greeted and given a CD to play in your car that narrates the story, then you drive slowly down the road and watch live actors and animals acting out the nativity while listening to the story on the CD.
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| Pregnant Mary & Joseph making their journey to Bethlehem |
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| Drive Through Nativity 2012 |
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| The angels announcing Jesus's arrival |
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| The 3 Wise men |
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| Jesus Born |
The day was stressful and full or tears, but for that little stretch of road everything was okay. There was a sense of calm and love. I couldn't thank Brad enough for finding it for us and suggesting it in lieu of skating with Santa. Seeing the Nativity play out was exactly what we needed and is what the season is truly all about.
On the 14th day of Christmas we experienced a whirlwind of emotions. We saw evil but we also saw that we are loved. We learned just how lucky we are to have each other. Most of all we showed Marshall that when life feels unfair and so dark, when you turn to God you will be pulled into the light and everything will be okay . . . maybe not right away, but eventually we will all be okay and heal.
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