Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2008. Mattie was home and sitting on the hospital bed that was temporarily set up in our living room while he was recovering from his second limb salvaging surgery. As you can see Mattie had a very festive wreath around his neck. This creative wreath was made by his art teacher, Debbie, and many of Mattie's classmates wrote messages or drew pictures to him on the leaves of the wreath. This wreath was hung on the inside of our front door in 2008, and there it remains.
Quote of the day: For I know the plans I have for you; plans to comfort you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ~ Jeremiah 29:11
We had lunch at the Biltmore Hotel, which is a historic property in Santa Barbara. I remember visiting this hotel when I was in high school. At that time my maternal grandmother was alive and she traveled with us. It is funny how visiting a place can bring back certain memories to you. The hotel's restaurant overlooks the ocean, which was a sight to see, and the patio doors of the restaurant were open, and sparrows were flying all around us. Peter and I are bird fans, so to us we felt like we were in and amongst nature. Initially as you can see the sun was out, but by the time lunch was over, so was the sun.
While in Santa Barbara, I received an email from Ann with pictures of Mattie's oak tree. Notice the colorful butterfly hanging from Mattie's tree! This is a new addition to the tree as of TODAY! Thanks to Erica (a fellow preschool mom) and Ann, my mission has been accomplished. I felt terrible leaving on Tuesday without having placed an ornament on Mattie's tree. I wanted Mattie to know that Peter and I are thinking of him on Christmas and everyday. I was deeply touched to get this picture today because we are only a few days away from Christmas, yet Erica found the time to meet up with Ann to give her this ornament, and Ann found a way to get to Mattie's school and place it on his tree. To me these two women gave me a wonderful Christmas gift, and I am not sure they even know it. To me this is what Christmas is about. It is about connections, friendship, and acts of kindness. As you can see in the picture, there are various items hanging from Mattie's tree. One looks like an acorn. This acorn is actually a bird house my in-laws gave us for our wedding anniversary in July. The other item in blue is an origami crane that my friend Junko and her mom made for Mattie's tree gathering event (which was held on Mattie's one year anniversary of his death). As you can see these items are doing beautifully on the tree and I am so happy that this colorful butterfly has now found a home on Mattie's tree. The butterfly has become such an important symbol of Mattie to me, and based on his love for bugs, I can't think of a more appropriate Christmas ornament to remember such a cutie.
On our drive home I snapped several more pictures of Christmas lights. This particular house caught my attention because every part of it seemed to be glowing! 
This picture doesn't seem to do this display justice. But basically there is a mechanical Santa on a sleigh and he is trying to land his reindeer on this front lawn. The lawn has red and green flashing lights on it, set up to look like a run way landing strip. It is absolutely adorable and very whimsical.
I would like to end tonight's posting with a large picture of Santa. This fellow caught my attention and I have a feeling Mattie would have absolutely loved him! So in honor of Mattie, I post this Christmas display!
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