Why are we doing this?

The day after Thanksgiving we put our tree up. Kylie watched in awe and confusion as the big kids put up the tree. We pulled out the boxes of ornaments and I showed the little kids how to hang the ornaments. They thought it was great fun. We had been decorating for about 15 minutes when Kylie looked at me and asked “why are we doing this?” I said, “It’s to celebrate Christmas. On Christmas there will be presents under the tree for you.” Kylie thought for a minute and said, “My momma doesn’t do this.”

This is the kids in 2007 under the tree. Brie wouldn't take her bear out from in front of her face. She has been really shy lately.

One other depressing little note: At Thanksgiving dinner Nate did something and Dan said “Nate was bad.” Kylie said “my dad was really, really bad and he went to jail and I’m really, really mad.”

If the girl’s childhoods don’t get better hopefully they will have some happy memories from my house and know that there is another life that they can choose to live when they grow up. On a positive note Jenny mentioned twice how happy she is that Sean is with us and well taken care of. She also told DCFS that she gave us custody of him when they did a child check last week. It is comforting that she is acknowledging to the state that we have legal custody. I expected DCFS to call and check on Sean but they didn't. I feel really bad for Jenny and her struggles but I feel worse for the girls.