Christmas 2001

I wish I could say that this is one of those awkward poses that "trained" photographers always try to get you in - turn your head this way, turn your neck that way, hold your breath, count to a thousand, now SMILE! But actually, this was an Original Georgia pose, after she'd had enough of those awkward ones. The photographer wasn't even paying attention until I yelled, "Take it! Now!" And we ended up with one of my favorite pictures of all time - I think it's just hysterical. And you can see those little curls starting to sprout ...

Hairstory

Nearly every day, someone asks Georgia - or me - about her hair, now that it's all grown back. Was it this curly before? Did the chemo make it curly? Was it always this color? Even people that know her well seem to have forgotten that once our girl finally got some hair the first time around (at about 2), she was a regular Shirley Temple. Ringlets, y'all. Then, in the two or three years before she was diagnosed, her hair was longer and thicker, and the curl had relaxed some, but it still had a lot of body. When it started to come out at the beginning of treatment, we wondered aloud what it would look like when it came back, and the answer is -  Shirley Temple 2.0. In fact, when I picked her up today for her clinic appointment (Counts are up - back on meds, back on track - yay!), she was fresh out of PE, still sweating from a good hour of basketball drills (Yes!), with springy curls bursting all over her head. It reminded me of a Christmas card picture from when she was about three, and thus, a blog post series idea was born: The Twelve Years of Christmas.

Throughout this month, along with the regular news and holiday specials, I'm going to post our Christmas card pictures from Georgia's first Christmas to now. You can then observe the evolution of her hair, her smile, and the undeniable light that shines from within her. Sounds fun, right? I mean, kind of random, but fun, too, right? Yes. So we begin at the beginning.

Christmas 2000

Tick Tock

How is it December already?! Next thing you know, it'll be a very special girl's 12th birthday! Time does fly, indeed.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving in San Antonio with both of Georgia's great-grandmothers and cousins and aunts and uncles to spare. We've almost got all of the Christmas decorations up, and tomorrow, it's back to the clinic to check counts. It looks like Georgia will have two more appointments this month, but hopefully NOT on her birthday! Been there, done that.

In fact, we're nearing the two year anniversary of Georgia's diagnosis, which also happens to be the day after her birthday and New Year's Eve AND our wedding anniversary. We like to double- and triple-up on our special occasions around here - we're very organized like that. But it sure makes card-buying difficult. : )

So we're looking forward to the next few weeks of fun and festivities and will probably kick things off by watching one of our favorite holiday movies: Elf! And starting today, you can help Georgia's pal, Will, raise money for Cancer for College by entering to win an autographed copy of the movie!

See you next month!

Today and Every Day, We are Giving Thanks.

Because of all of our many blessings, especially Georgia's continued recovery and the love and support we've received from you, we are so very thankful this year. The St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign is a wonderful reminder of just how blessed we are, so we encourage you to support one of the many retail partners that are raising funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. And you might see this sweet trailer during your holiday movie excursions as well.

Another way to help is by making a donation to our friend, Claire, who is running the St. Jude Half Marathon in Memphis next weekend. Claire and her sister, Gail, have been devoted Friends of Georgia throughout her treatment, and we're so impressed by, and grateful for, their continued dedication to the fight against cancer. These girls live by the motto "Life is Good," and despite the ups and downs of this journey, the Peachy Keens wholeheartedly agree.

Good luck, girls!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Auction: Part Moo

Here are just a few of our favorite cows - really, they were all wonderful. Just prepare for pun overload! And the clip at the end is a video of the video Georgia made at the clinic. It's kind of hard to hear her over the auction crowd (we were all still processing the fact that ""Cowch" had just sold for $150,000!), so I'm hoping to get a copy of the original clip and will post it if I do.

In other news, yesterday's clinic visit went well, but Georgia's ANC is still pretty low (520), so we're holding her oral chemotherapy meds for two more weeks. She's had the croopy-coughy-crud (actual diagnosis, right?), so that's probably not helping anything, but hopefully, the time off - plus steroids and her antibiotic - will get that white count back up to normal. She's feeling good and brought home another straight-A report card. That girl!

Cowcycle

Hill Country BeauxVine and Cheese

Bat Cow!

Flamencow

Texas Moosicians

Gilded Lily