I decided that I would help mom clean, maybe put up her Christmas tree and help her decorate the rest of the house. I did put up our decorations at home last week, and it helped me get into the Christmas Spirit a litte bit.
Well, I dusted the living and dining rooms, took some plants upstairs, and helped mom take things down off the walls. Well, Bobby and Ben went upstairs and got the tree out of the attic and stood it up for us. Mom and I fluffed the branches and then went to get out all the ornaments and other decorations...aka snowmen! Mom has somewhere near 200 different snowmen. NONE of them are the same, and they vary in size from small 1/2 inch ornaments, to a guy that's over 5 feet tall that used to scare the crap out of my dad when he walked in the living room. It's like someone's standing there waiting to jump you!!
I decorated the WHOLE tree by myself, and it turned out lovely, if I do say so myself (I also decorated our tree at home by myself...Bobby put 1 ornament on the tree here). Things were going well while decorating...I got a little choked up while putting the ornaments on when I came across the ones that represented my dad...snowmen dressed like a fisherman, fireman, and golfer, and a golfball that I had bought him somewhere around 10 years ago.
I didn't cry though...until we got out the tote that had the stockings in it. There was dad's stocking, right on top. That did it. I lost it. Of course, mom did, too. We cried for a long time, and then we had to decide what to do. Put it up or don't put it up? It didn't seem right to just leave it in the tote. But how could we leave that empty stocking hang there???? Well, we did hang it up. We decided that we are going to put something in it...a cigar from the humidor we bought him for Father's Day. Did we make the right decision? I'm still not sure. I feel bad that my mom has to look at it every day...I just don't know. Even now, just thinking about that empty stocking, I'm getting teary eyed. I miss him so much.
Tonight, I'm going to finish decorating. I still have to put out the Nativity and decide what I'm going to do for a center piece on my dining room table! I also need to make the finishing touches on the ornaments I made for my ornament exchange.
I'll be taking pictures of the decorations the next few days to share with you! Have a great evening!
2 comments:
sarah, i think you did the right thing by putting the stocking up. your dad will be there for christmas and he's with you everyday... last year my mom left me to decorate her tree alone, so i opened the box and the top two ornaments were snowbabies that said "i love my grandma" and "i love my grandpa." i totally thought i was set up by my mom, but realizing i wasn't, i decided to put them up so nobody would forget kendall at christmas. i thought it was a sign from her. so same as your dads stocking being right on top, it's just his way of reminding you guys he's still there.
Sassy
Of course you did the right thing, why even question it. Its whats in yours ,Ben's and your mothers hearts and thoughts, no one else's.
Now stop making me cry!!!!!
Love ya
Uncle Brian
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