Sunday, December 27, 2009

Advent #22: Christmas and Deceased Relatives

I don't do anything special to acknowledge my deceased relatives on Christmas. I am very close to the point of having more dead relatives than I do living.

As I mentioned in my last post, the year my dad died, I remembered him by listening to the CD I gave him the year before.

I do have a pair of James' socks that are Christmasy. I count them in my Christmas sock collection and I wore them to our best friends' on Christmas Eve so he was there in spirit that way. And I hung up his stocking.

I have reminders of my grandmother: the quilted wall-hanging she made for me, the Christmas tree skirt she made for Dad and the Christmas rabbit she made for our side of the family that lived with Dad but now lives with me. (She made them for my aunts too).

I have reminders of my aunt (Dad's older sister): the angel that usually sits on the top of the tree and the snowman I sit up on the kitchen table were both gifts from her.

Normally, the only way I remember the deceased is to leave them on my Christmas card spreadsheet for the first year after they die even though I don't send them a card. I would visit their graves, but Grandma is the only one in a cemetery and it is in Florida.

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