Presents from loved ones are special things. We hold them close as they hold special meaning to us.
November of 2018 was my daughter’s eleventh birthday and we had just lost her Grandmother a few weeks prior. Her Grandma was Mrs. Claus reincarnated, and the two of them bonded over shopping, fashion and decorating. Christmas and birthdays always brought her awesome surprises from Grandma.
While those gifts were tangible, for my daughter it wasn’t so much that, as her joint love with her Grandmother over those things and for her. Losing Grandma meant that there was suddenly a huge void in her life, particularly in those areas.
No more special gifts from the person who just innately got her. The person who could pick out a gift for her and it would always be perfect. This brought a lot of sadness and her birthday coming on the heels of loosing Grandma made things even more distressing for her.
But Grandma planned ahead. Unbeknownst to my daughter, on our way home from the funeral tucked away, waiting for her birthday was a jacket they had picked out that summer when my daughter had been visiting. Grandma had had to order it and wanted to make sure she had it for her birthday. It was something in her last days that she made sure the others around her knew about so that it would find it’s way into my daughter’s hands for her birthday even though she would be gone.
Grandma has given my daughter lots of clothes and jackets over the years. And we have passed them on to others when they have been outgrown. But this jacket? This jacket will find it’s way into the hope chest she inherited from her Grandmother. A keepsake of a Grandmother’s love.
Unbeknownst to her or my son, Grandma has one more gift to share with them. Grandma loved making quilts for The Festival of Trees which supported Primary Children’s Hospital. When she died there were massive amounts of material waiting to be made into quilts. Christmas themed material eventually made it into my hands and this year will be made into quilts for their beds to remind them each year of the Grandma who loved them, and loved Christmas.
That is beautiful.
Thank you.