by Karen Yvonne

Created on: December 09, 2008

Sometimes God wraps His gifts to us in troubles. We don't always realize the gift right away, but time makes it beautiful and one that we cherish forever.

My mother had been seriously ill during the year. She had survived cancer for thirty five years, but was suffering from the long term impact of the radiation treatments that were administered back then. Radiation colonitis hospitalized her several times and, while we were praying for her survival, my stepfather suffered an aneurism driving home from a hospital visit. Ironically, he was rushed back to the same hospital she was at, where he died shortly after. That first Christmas without him would be hard on all of us.

I was living in Florida and had met a new man that I hoped to introduce to my family at Christmas. I planned on flying home early to spend time with my mother before he flew up on Christmas Day for dinner with my family. The next day he and I were going to drive north to a little bed and breakfast in New Hampshire for the weekend.

My mother was feeling much better, and even though she had breathing difficulties, she and I hiked through the woods near her house and spent time with other family members living in the area. On Christmas Day, we all gathered at my sister's house and I was going to pick my friend up at the airport in time for dinner. At the last minute, he called to say he couldn't make it, leaving me angry and wondering what to do about the fully paid for weekend at the Inn.

After thinking about it, I asked my mother to come with me instead. It took some convincing, but she eventually said yes. We were going to the White Mountains, an area that was one of my stepfather's favorite spots for hiking and camping. His ashes had been delivered a few weeks earlier and while my brother planned on hiking them to the top of Mount Washington in the spring, my mother wanted to scatter some at Cathedral Ledge, where they had hiked and had picnics many times over the years. Our family albums are full of pictures taken at the top of the Ledge.

We got to the Inn after dark and were greeted by a big friendly brown dog who welcomed us before the owners could stop him. We found our room to be cozy, with a warm and inviting fireplace downstairs, a beautiful view of the mountains, and a wonderful home served breakfast each morning. It was snowing lightly as we drew the drapes to go to sleep and everything was blanketed in white. By daylight the new snow had accumulated to about 24 inches and was glistening

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