CHRISTMAS FROM HEAVEN

This 2011 Christmas will be my first without both of my parents.  I know, I know, I'm almost fifty-seven years old, so what's the big deal?  The big deal is that "this 2011 Christmas will be my first without both of my parents", especially with my mom's passing in September.  By Christmas, it will have been very close to three months to the day.  She liked Christmas.  She especially liked the commercialization of it, the giving of gifts and the over eating.  She insisted on having her Christmas on Christmas Day, even when our daughters were in school, had a large Christmas Eve religious service on that night and a family Christmas that same night, it was expected that we get to her house before mid afternoon in Christmas Day.
Mom always  thought herself the "fun" grandma, the gregarious grandma, the generous grandma.  She gave numerous, unusual, often meaningless gifts, but almost all of these had some sort of monetary reward in them, so one had to open the entire gift.  She also gave "group gifts.  All the "boys" received "like" gifts, the "girls as well and the two groups of gifts were completely different and unrelated.  We had to sit in those groups and open the gifts together in the order determined by the hostess.  I. of course, had to add a wrinkle by handing a gift given to me to someone else and saying that I believed I received that particular gift in error and insisted on a trade.  We all, then, "traded" the gifts seeminly endlessly.  That, then, had to be included in every Christmas thereafter.  Tradition.
So, in wondering how Mom was going to manipulate this Christmas, she left us a pre-wrapped gift purchased five years ago in anticipation of her passing.  Below is are photos I took of the gift.

Ornament from Mom

Accompanying poem



It is a really nice gesture and I'm glad she did this for us all, but I am happier that she had the reassurance that she would be in heaven.  We will speak of her frequently during the holidays.  She will be with us still.  Thanks, Mom.