Funerals and family

One positive thing about funerals is that they bring families together. Not all of the grandchildren were able to come, but many did that I had not seen in years.

It's always a chaotic time and a time for lots of pictures.

JC, Wendy, Steve, Jill, Amy, Adrienne and Annalina take some time together during the viewing.

Renetta got a huge Christmas present from dad. All of the kids were able to come for the funeral so she had them all home during Christmas. They now live all over the country. Here's baby Sean, Sarah, and Jeff from Texas, JC from New Jersey, Erica from California and Nicole from BYU-Idaho on Renetta's side and next to Richard are Wendy from Utah, Jill from California and Steve from Texas.

Of course, I was with my siblings, Mick, me, LaDonna and Richard.

Here is the family that were able to go to the private family viewing of dad/grandpa.

Dad's Manger Scene

At some level, dad realized it was Christmas time. When we went to clean out his apartment, we looked at his shelves near his front door and noticed something on the second shelf.

If you look closer, you can see he had put out his manger scene. Some of the parts were missing. . .

We found the missing pieces in his bathroom. He tried to make two manger scenes. Needless to say, this was touching to me and brought tears to my eyes.