December 1, 2010: My Mom would have been 80 years old today. It’s hard to believe that it’s been thirteen years since she passed away. Sometimes I try to form a picture of what she would look like now but I can’t. I wish that my Mom could have met Makaila, Rachel and Anna and that she could have held her great grandchildren because she would have loved all of them.
My Mom loved Christmas. When we were small she would paint a Christmas scene in the front window and she would string holly around the front door of our house. A white light shone up into the birch tree in the front yard and a blue flood light not only lit the front of our house but my bedroom ceiling. I loved that blue light. Christmas meant a Scotch Pine Christmas Tree with its fragrant scent, coloured lights and strings of popcorn. It meant looking outside and seeing snow. It meant coming into a house that smelled like all of the Christmas goodies that Mom would bake. The things that I liked the most were shortbread cookies in the shape of angels, almond crunch, sticky buns and homemade fruit cocktail. After a big turkey dinner on Christmas Day, we nibbled on those goodies all afternoon.
I miss my Mom all the time, but I miss her more at Christmas. Because I understand that special part of grieving, we at the Blenheim Community Funeral Home along with Family Service Kent, VON Canada and the Bereavement Ontario Network recently sponsored a seminar called “Grieving Through The Holidays”. One common need that was shared that night is for us to acknowledge our loved ones at Christmas time. You might do that by giving something of “dad’s” to his children or you may choose to light a candle at the Christmas table to represent each year that your husband has not been there. For me, it’s making shortbread cookies in the shape of angels.
