By Sylvia Kyle for Local Love.
Before adopting my daughter, I’d fantasized for a long time about our perfect first Christmas. There’d be a new puppy tearing around the living room, gift mountains, holiday movie marathons, a magnificent tree and happy faces. And last Christmas, after I was matched with a teen girl, my vision was finally manifested. Sort of. We brought home an adorable little yellow lab the week before the holidays, we stacked the sofa so high with presents that we almost broke Instagram, we bookmarked a bunch of festive films on Netflix, and decked a bushy tree out with twinkling fairy lights. All that was missing from our holidays? The joy.