Christmas Grief...Sometimes
Grief is a peculiar thing. Even when we feel we have put it aside or worked through it, even when years have passed between the loss and the present time, it can re-surface without warning in unexpected and surprising ways. Such has been my experience as this holiday season begins, as I have found myself recalling the last Christmas my mom spent with us- the entire family- here at my house. She had not had a good autumn and I watched her getting progressively weaker, her pain level from the periodic vertebral fractures escalating, though she usually denied the pain, feeling that pain medication made her too drowsy. I was tired from the care-giving, from carrying the full burden of the household on my sometimes weary shoulders, and so I announced my intention of not putting up a tree that Christmas. Mother received the news quietly, as was her way, but after several days had passed, she very gently asked me if I wouldn't reconsider as she would love to have a Christmas tree so we...