Let the Season Begin

Christmas time has come once again. And like all older people, you know the ones…the ones I said I would never be like back when I was in my twenties and thirties…it arrives quicker each year! Now that’s a sentence for my editor to make a comment on! Thank you, Britta Ann for all your wise words on editing. I really do appreciate you!

I really dislike that each time I have posted this year…all three times I think it’s been…I apologize for not posting. Life has been a whirlwind, and I know all of your lives have been as well. I’ve been wanting to update you all, and the time has never been there. So, here’s a quick update. Maybe at some point, when the winter winds blow and I’m cold just sitting around, and all my books are finished, I will fill in all the little blanks.

In April this year, my husband and I went to Indiana for two weeks to help care for our newest grandson. I kind of had a bad feeling from the standpoint of caring for a six-month old. Doing that at 57 is far different than in your twenties! But we survived, and it was absolutely wonderful getting to know little Maverick, who is now an adorable 13-month-old. But for some reason, those two weeks started a tailspin of events that I’m still recovering from. The hardest part being just being gone from home a lot…which again, something I wouldn’t have found a problem back in my twenties and thirties!

June was a busy month. My sister, whom I hadn’t seen in many years, came for a visit, and we were able to meet her new husband. A great visit! So happy to have Evan as part of our family! My mother fell at the nursing home about that same time. Any of you that have worked in geriatrics know that is not a good thing! Yes, my mother broke her hip…and that’s even worse for someone in a care facility. (I say that after working in care facilities for many years. It just seems to go downhill after a broken hip. Nothing being said here about care facilities being bad!) The end of June held many visits to the hospital, where my mother did very well for about a week. It was wonderful to have that time with her and my father. The end of June brought a fantastic time for our family in Branson. I even went swimming, which I hadn’t done in so many years! It was once a thing I loved!

During our week in Branson, my mother took a turn for the worse. My husband and I headed straight to the care facility on our return, him leaving my suitcases at my parent’s home. My mother passed on July 2nd, and while very sad, I am happy for her, and where she is now. She was in so much pain that last week. My brother and his family were making plans to visit my mother but missed her by two weeks. It was still wonderful to have them visit for a couple days!

Here is a fill-in-the-blank-later moment. My husband and I are now living in my parent’s home…my father is here occasionally, but my husband and I are now caring for it. My father wants it to be our home, and I’ve explained that it will take a while. Some time will need to pass before I don’t look at each item that is here and remember that it was my mother’s. For now, that’s a good thing. So many of my mother’s monetary furnishings had to be sold to make room for our furnishings, but I’ve kept those special pictures, glassware, and furniture that I and my siblings remember from our childhood.

I’ve posted on how special my mother made the holidays. I look back now and wonder how she did it. Dozens of cookies, open house celebrations, decorations galore! We always had at least two Christmas trees, and some years five when we lived in the bigger houses. I fall way short of that, but I have my memories. Yesterday I finished decorating our new home. Simpler than what my mother once did, but homey for us.

Lots of traveling this past year, my mother’s death, and a move. But so much to be thankful for this Christmas season! I have found that in my own life, God seems to work that way. Many trials and testing, but so many other reasons to give thanks, and remember how gracious and merciful God is. I have reconnected with my sister, I have the opportunity to spend time with my father, I have been privileged to get to know my brother’s family a bit better. We’ve had visits with our children and our grandchildren that were wonderful! We have a beautiful home to live in, and my husband’s Parkinson’s is holding steady.

Thank you, God, for all of these! Have a wonderful Christmas season!