Day 285: The last few weeks have been difficult for my MIL as we decorate for Christmas. Christmas has always been her favorite time of the year. She would decorate her home, hang Christmas lights outside, and have my father-in-law build a Christmas scene for the yard. She was notorious for shopping up until Christmas Eve and wrapping presents literally as we were sitting downstairs by the tree waiting to unwrap them! She would search high and low to find the right presents and make Christmas special for everyone. When my husband's dad was alive he was always being assigned a building project to personalize the gift that much more. One Christmas he made Mickey Mouse wooden chairs for our girls---we still have them and will someday use them with our grandchildren. The girls loved them---they would sit and rock in them reading their favorite books for hours.
As we put up our tree my MIL sat and just stared at the tree while my husband wrapped each branch with lights. This is something he learned from his mom. I watched her and could tell that she was remembering how she used to decorate the tree and how important it was to her to have every branch wrapped with the most lights possible. She prided herself on the number of strands of lights that it took to properly light up her tree. Thus the question she asked my husband as she sat and watched him, she asked, "how many strands of lights do you put on your tree?" I got it but I'm not sure my husband made the connection. I know it was one more reminder of something she used to enjoy doing at a very special time of the year.
So, as we continue to build memories and traditions with our children we will try to be sensitive to how important this time of the year is to her. We have her a stocking hung with the rest of our family and will fill it with some special items that just she will enjoy----lottery tickets, notepads, and lipstick. These are just a few of her "favorite things"!
Life is good----over the hill.
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