December 25

I knew that Christmas day last year would suck but like everything during those 24 weeks of hell, I’d get through it. I remember saying “Gosh next year its going to be sooo much better, in soooo many ways”. And MAN I was sooooo right!! I knew then I’d appreciate this year after what we had to deal w/ before but man…I look at this picture of last Christmas and it brings tears to my eyes! It was such a horrible day…from what I can remember through the chemo-haze! (I remember most by the pictures…and us Gallagher's always do everything the same every year…we never deviate from our routines EXCEPT this year we skipped the potato salad and I made Jody’s Twice Baked Potatoes which were a total HIT!) I had chemo on the 23rd, so by the 25th I was NOT feeling well! I had to pretend like I was feeling ok so that no one would know how much I was hating every second of it. It makes me sad that I was so miserable for Owen’s first Christmas; at least he won’t remember it…and hey, in all the pictures I faked it pretty darn good!  I was feeling SO bad that day that I went BALD all day. Usually when I was going through treatment I’d always wear something on my head when other people were around. I was only comfortable for Owen, Yosh and Mom to see me really hair-less.  But when I woke up last Christmas morning…my “chemo hangover” was in full effect I had to just get myself dressed and be ready for the day! Of course our families were wonderful…they cooked, cleaned and made Owen’s first Christmas as normal as it could be.

 

I not only appreciated being able to have a wonderful Christmas day with/for Owen but also for my husband. Yosh wasn’t physically the one with the cancer last year but he had to go through all of it with me, whether he wanted to or not. It was like he too was the cancer patient going to some of the treatments, taking days off work, doing the cooking (or fast-food runs) and trying to just be the supportive strong husband for me! Only difference was he got to keep his hair, endured only self-inflicted hangovers, never had needles pricking the hell outta him and didn’t gain the 12lbs that I did (wait sooo not fair!)!!! Yosh is a HUGE Christmas person (minus the whole outside lights thing haha) but he’s totally like a child…wants me to stay up past him, lay out his presents, fill his stocking, etc. (Deep down I think he still kinda believes in Santa) but last year he had to play the Santa…he even had too fill his own stocking (which you better believe he did!) This year was just so much better…we have a “real” child to play Santa for and its so much fun! I now understand why my Dad was the way he was about Christmas and Santa and why he NEVER wanted Paul and I to stop believing! Playing Santa is great…and I can’t wait for the days when Owen believes and knows what Santa is all about…OHHHH its gonna be so much fun!

So anyway, Owen got TOTALLY spoiled…sooo many toys and fun things. Yosh and I also got TOTALLY spoiled…and it was a great day! Thanks families….Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve Traditions

I met Yosh in November 2002 at The Brown’s house-warming party in San Bernardino…it was a weird time in my life. I was having the summer of my life, hanging out w/ awesome people and then BAM Yosh walks into my life and throws me for a loop. I fell in love pretty darn quick! In 2000 and 2001 my parents and I went away to Hawaii for the holidays and pretended it wasn’t Christmas at all.  We lost Paul in 2000 and Christmas time just made our heart hurt so much to have to try and celebrate without him…it just wasn’t the same. 2 years away, my family knew we couldn’t “not” celebrate forever, so 2002 was going to be our first Christmas home trying to get things back to Holiday Normal.  I was NOT looking forward to the holiday season and having just met Yosh I knew it would make for some awkward conversations. Since I had only known Yosh for a month I figured I’d miss him for Christmas b/c he’d be w/ his family, I’d be with mine…we wouldn’t be “co-mingling” w/ our families just yet and maybe I’d get to meet up w/ him for New Years!?! BUT…Yosh was awesome and surprised me w/ a dozen long steam roses delivered to my house AND tickets to Disneyland for Christmas Eve. It was the best way to keep my mind busy and we had a great time. (Sorry don’t have digital copies of pics from back then…maybe I can scan some)  With that being said Yosh stuck around and so did our little Christmas Eve Tradition.

On Christmas Eve 2004 Yosh took “the step” and proposed to me at the entrance of Disneyland! His plan was to propose during the fireworks at the end of the evening BUT he was bursting with excitement and wasn’t able to wait! haha

    

 

We have gone every year except those we are in Ireland or last year since I had was going through chemo and had a treatment schedule for the 23rd.  So this year was Owen’s first X-mas Eve at Disney (his 2nd time in D-Land) and I was scared b/c Owen woke up on Dec. 22nd with a horrible cough, congestion and slight fever. I thought our Disney day was going to be called off. I brought him to Kaiser on the 23rd to be told that poor Owen had a double ear infection and croup. We started the antibiotics right away, had a day of complete rest and the doc said he’d be okay for D-Land the next day.

So…we got to the Happiest Place on Earth around 10am and our first stop was going to be Mickey’s House since we’ve been building this up for Owen. I was praying he wouldn’t flip out…but it wouldn’t surprise me if he did. Amazingly we hardly had to wait, we got to go in and see the Mouse. Owen walked up to him and said “Knucks” and “High Five”….so he was buddies with Mickey from the start. It was so adorable.

 

The weather in So. Cal has been horrible the  past week….so since Christmas Eve was the first day of sunshine, Disneyland was extra packed….ohhhhh man just the way we like it. NOT! But we always just go w/ it and try and enjoy our day! We went on a few rides, played on Tom Sawyers Island and watched the Christmas Parade. This year, we got our tickets from an awesome family, so we got to “park-hop” for the first time. Made Yosh and I realize that next Disneyland trip we will be purchasing Park-Hoppers to really explore the great California Adventure!  These are Owen’s 2 trips to the Magical Kingdom!

July 2009…Yosh’s birthday and Owen’s first Disney trip!	Dec. 24th, 2010…

 

 

Of course it wouldn’t be the Souza blog without more flashback pics! Enjoy!

2004…the year we got engaged! Oh what a great day!	2005…we went later in the day to miss the kiddie-morning-rush!

 

In 2008 I was prego with Owen, it was freezing and we still enjoyed our day!	In 2009 our Christmas Eve tradition took place on Dec. 1st. I was sick, hair-less and not happy. BUT we had to bring Catherine and John from Ireland to see Disney…so we left Owen w/ Nana and had a Christmas Day at Disneyland. And it ended up being an AWESOME day!

I can’t wait to continue this wonderful tradition for many many years to come!  Hopefully we’ll have more little Souza’s to drag around and I’ll love every minute of it!!

Christmas Time with my girls.

“Everyone has a “best friend” during each stage of life-only a precious few have the same one” ~Anonymous

 

I have tons of friends, MANY great friends, but only a few that are like sisters to me. We have grow together, then apart and then back together. We love each other, we hate each other, we adore each other, we fight with each other, we support each other and question each other….but in the end we can’t live without one another!   Through school, sports, partying, dating, marriage, kids, everything…we have somehow stuck together through it all!

I’ve known Cindy since the 2nd-3rd grade at Oak Park Elementary (one of our long standing arguments…she says 2nd grade, I say the 3rd grade); Gabby since 6th grade at Southridge Middle School and Southridge Little League; Erika since the 8th grade through Little League (we hated each other b/c we were on rival little league teams!)  Over the years we grew to all love each other very much. Of course, like any other relationship we all have our moments and issues but all in all these girls are my family.

We all live very busy different lives, but yearly we make a point to come together w/ our families to celebrate Christmas. Some years we have other awesome friends, but in the end the 4 of us have stayed true and together. Here are some pics I found of some of our Annual Christmas Gatherings from the past…some years I have no pics for whatever reason or I just can’t find them.

2004 Gab, Brenda, Cindy, Erika, Jessica and myself…2004 at Cindy’s apartment. Ronnie & Alyssa were the only kids
In 2005 we couldn’t line up our schedules so we had a X-mas Dinner at Brenda’s work. Honolulu Harry’s in Riverside.	In 2008, Erika and Chuck threw us a curve ball…they had a surprise wedding on Dec. 20th…so no party was needed…we had her wedding reception at Chucks parents house!
In 2009 we came to my house and enjoyed dinner, presents and each others company!	Now in 2010 our families are growing and some of us still have some multiplying to doÜ Chuck was working so we weren’t 100% complete..maybe next year!?!

Thank you girls…I can’t wait to continue to watch our families and pictures grow!