The madness is over. The malls and shopping centers are quiet for a day. The last minute shoppers have finished. The trip for Santa and his reindeers is at an end. Presents have been exchanged and opened. We can breathe and take time to enjoy family and good food.
This is the second Christmas without my mother. The memories will live on forever. She and my aunt always alternated Thanksgiving and Christmas lunch, but you could always count on me and my husband and my brothers and family being at my mother's on Christmas Eve. She put out food no one ate. I received gifts I didn't want and I'm sure, gave gifts they didn't want, but we were together. That was what was important. Everyone will be at my aunt's for lunch today, but there will be a hole left by my mother's absence.
Tomorrow the madness will start over again as people exchange presents and hit the after Christmas sales. I'm sure some stores don't even wait until after Christmas day. Living in the middle of the Bible belt, most of our stores will be closed. I can't even buy alcohol legally in my county. I'll leave the shopping for others. I'll be home back to my old routine or trying to start a new routine so I can lose weight.
What's your favorite Christmas memory?
Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May all your dreams come true in the new year.
3 comments:
Our Christmas was noticeable by two absences and two additions--my wonderful mother-in-law who could drive me nuts and have me laughing in hysterics in the same breath, passed away shortly after her 90th birthday last winter, and our daughter's father-in-law, a fascinating man we all loved dearly, died the same week. As much as we found ourselves mourning their loss, we were too busy chasing Ella Carol and Cole Douglas, our son's daughter and our daughter's son, both born over the past year. Definitely visual evidence of the circle of life, and enough to leave us all both thankful and thoughtful. Happy Holidays all.
This was my first Christmas without my mother, Deborah. She died in May, a few months shy of her 89th birthday. Over the summer, I cleared her stuff out of the condo she shared with Dad, but I was on deadline and didn't have time to go through all of it then. So I spent Christmas day sorting through what was left, getting it ready for the Church clothing drive and picking out a few things to keep. It was more a peaceful than a sad task--it gave me a reason to think about her, to remember her life and her death.
The first Christmas without a loved one is always the hardest. My mother was just a few days shy of her 79th birthday when she passed away after heart surgery.
I try to remember her life rather those last days in the hospital, which is not too difficult since I'm living in her house.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.
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