Celebrating Christmas in the VA Polytrauma Unit

"Christmas will look a little different this year: We are so grateful that our daughter is staying at the Fisher House on the grounds of the Palo Alto VA hospital where she feels like she has a little home away from home. We are thankful that Sam and Erin are relatively close to us. We are thankful that Erin is so confident in the staff at the polytrauma center—the nurses, therapist and doctors, even the janitors at the VA hospital are so wonderful, caring and friendly.
This Christmas is going to look a little different for our family’s home in Citrus Heights. We won’t have a Christmas tree or any decorations or even any presents—but none of that is really important to us right now. We will be celebrating Christmas together as a family—sitting around Sam’s bed in the polytrauma ward of the VA hospital. We’ll have the room decorated nicely. I’m bringing my guitar and we’ll sing Christmas carols together. We have so much to be thankful for—the charitable organizations that have reached out to us to make this day happen, the wonderful staff at the VA hospital, and mostly importantly, the gift of seeing Sam make little improvements every day."
Sgt. Samuel Nichols, USMC