In a week we will be gathering for Christmas Eve. Many gathering together for the first time. Some of us may gather for the last time. Many not gathering at all.
The post cards and the movies usually have a big gathering of family and friends. Smiling and laughing in front of beautifully decorated trees or at an elegantly placed dinner table.
This might be the first Christmas for couples, be it newlyweds or those who just started dating.
The first Christmas as parents usually has that special ornament for the tree, “Babies first Christmas 2023.”
There are those Eleanor Rigby’s out there that spend Christmas alone. Whatever life circumstances have left them behind by themselves on Christmas.
It’s the Christmas that we might share with someone for the last time that makes us reminisce when they are gone.
I yelled at my mom the last Christmas we spent together. We were driving to my in-laws for Christmas. I had a Chevy Suburban that fit George and Fritz in the back row, baby Hazel and my mom in the middle and my wife and I up front. Molly the puppy was crammed in the back with presents and a jello mold.
Fritz and George were all worked up, loud and obnoxious as they anticipated Christmas Day. It was definitely not a postcard trip that went over the mountain and through the woods.
That’s when my mom’s nerves came to a boil and she said to me, “Can you please control your kids! There is something wrong with George, he isn’t normal!”
My fingers clenched the steering wheel and Christmas spirit left my heart….
…..“Coming from you? A lesson in parenthood coming from you?
You would be the last person I’d talk to about parenthood!”
At that time in life, I wasn’t the town crier when it came to telling everyone that George was recently diagnosed with autism. So I probably should have given my mom the benefit of not knowing the situation.
But I didn’t and that was my last Christmas with my mom.
The next day was a work day. My mom and I both took the morning train into the city. I left her in the Great Room at Union Station to wait for her train home to Indianapolis. I walked over to the Board of Trade still pissed off.
I will always picture her sitting on that big wooden bench with a sad look on her face. She had one more Christmas left after that year. She stayed home.
Becareful this Christmas….
…it might be your last Christmas with someone that you love. Try not to make a memory like I did for my mom’s last Christmas. Try and make one like this one, PopPop’s last Christmas.
We didn’t know last year was our last Christmas with PopPop. I can see him sitting in my chair watching the Shepkids open presents. All he kept saying was…. “This is great, this is great!” He was so happy spending time with George, Fritz and Hazel.
I can’t go back and sugarcoat that last Christmas with my mom. However I did make the last Christmas with Pop a lasting memory for his grandchildren.
Have a lush week and don’t stress out getting prepared for next weekend.
Baby Jesus still shows up. Santa will complete his journey and Uncle Max will fart at the dinner table.
It’s Christmas time Baby!
