The last couple of weeks we have spent time doing those things that we do every year. It started with getting out the tree and putting on the lights and putting on all the ornaments. I have a little addiction to Christmas ornaments – okay – maybe a big addiction. My boys have told me I really need another tree. Not a problem, boys! I am now planning to take all the snowmen off the big tree next year and put a tree up in the office. Of course, that may mean I need to add a few new ornaments to both trees – just to fill them out again. When we put the tree up, I unwrap everything as the boys put them on the tree. That way I get to see every ornament every year. I get to remember where they came from or why we bought them. It’s so fun for me! One of the special things on the tree is an ornament that Kevin’s grandmother made. It’s a ceramic face of an angel. It gets a special place on the tree every year, and Kevin is the one to hang it every year.
Then I started putting up all the other decorations. Kevin loves Christmas just as much as I do. Neither one of us really will tell the other one “no” when it comes to buying Christmas related items. We just sheepishly grin as we reveal our new treasure. So we have lots of things all over the house. As I pull them out, I get the same warm feelings I do with ornaments. This year I was privileged to get a few new-to-me snowmen from my mother-in-law’s collection. She passed away several years ago, and my father-in-law and my step-mother-in-law passed some along to me. I remember several of them being displayed in her home, and now I get to see them and remember her.
This year other memories have come flooding in. I’ve been doing the usual baking. I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for my Sunday school class today, and I used the recipe of my sister-in-law’s sister. Unfortunately, she passed away way too early in life. We lived close to each other in Kansas City for a while, and I enjoyed getting to know her. I missed her as I made her muffins yesterday. When I put the pumpkin pie spice in, it reminded me of a story about my dad who is also gone now. When he was working in the kitchen in the Air Force, he noticed a lot of plates coming back with just a bite of pumpkin pie out of them. One of his friends asked him what he did to the pies. He tasted one of them and realized he left out the pumpkin pie spice! That’s the one ingredient you don’t want to leave out of anything pumpkin flavored! We always teased my dad about not being able to help us with the pumpkin pies at the holidays.
I also made my mom’s fruitcake this weekend. I think that was the hardest for me. You see my mom passed away in September this year. So this is recent heartache. That doesn’t mean the others’ passing is any less hurtful or I miss them any less, but this hurt is still raw. But the holidays aren’t the holidays without my mom’s fruitcake. So Kevin and I made it Friday night. I could hear her telling me, “Be sure to wear gloves and spray them well so it doesn’t stick while you’re mixing.” Of course, that was always followed by, “Be careful! It will be hot! Don’t burn yourself.” She was always watching out for us, always offering advice.
Christmas is and will always be one of my favorite times of the year. This one will be a little tougher and maybe a little sadder. But I know that my mom would not want me to stop my traditions or stay sad. She would want me to remember. She would want me to enjoy the decorations. And she would want me to wear gloves, be careful, and enjoy the fruitcake!
Laughter and Tears on the Journey 