This will be the first Christmas without Mom. When I thought she would still be with us I worried about whether we would be able to get her in the car and up the stairs to my home. Since she died on Thanksgiving, it turns out to be one of those worries that I didn't need to have. My husband and I are going to avoid Christmas at home this year. We have a sailboat and we're going to take it out for a few days. We'll enjoy other people's Christmas lights and have a low-key Christmas. Best Christmas wishes to all. AnnieN

Annie that sounds like such a healthy thing for the 2 of you to do. I hope the weather is cooperative. You two did so much for your mom, and having a relaxing and different sort of Christmas will hopefully get you rejuvenated! Enjoy your time on the water. Those firsts are always hard, but you'll make it through and next year it will be a little easier I suspect. Take care and have a nice Christmas and New Year. Lynn

With my mom just being in the hospital ( came home on Tues), I'm so glad that we have
always had an "Open House" at our house on Christmas Eve. Since it's a Saturday this year, I've told everyone to come anytime after 1pm. I supply a spiral sliced ham and sandwich fixings, a salad and homemade candy and cookies. Everyone else brings any finger foods they want to bring and their own alcohol free beverages. They can stay as long as they want or leave for other commitments as quickly as they need to. With 8 living children, 20 grandchildren ( and spouses) 24 great grandchildren and 1 great great granddaughter, this works well for our family. Mom gets to see everyone without the stress of taking her out or trying to get everybody here at the same time for a formal meal ( impossible!). I've asked one of my nieces to get lots of pictures of my mom with the great-grandchildren because this may be her last Christmas, and I want the kids to have pictures to remember her by. This past year has shown me just how fast her condition can change.
I better get busy, I still have cookies to bake and fudge to make!
Happy Holidays!
Ellen

Ellen, that sounds like a great tradition!

After Dad died, that first Christmas was going to be a hard one. He was always the one who made Christmas fun. We live 400 miles away, but Mom wants to be in her own home. I did the 12 days of Christmas. Purchased small gifts I knew she would like and went to the neighbor and asked them to sneak the gifts over and leave them on the porch. It became so much fun. One time, she thought they might be involved and was going to their house to see if they had any matching paper. I called and warned them to hide everything. The last gift told her to go to a restaurant Christmas morning and her "Secret Santa"would be wearing a red bow. We got a waitress to hand out red bows to everyone, so it became a lot of laughs.

The 12 Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas, Santa sent to me
Some Flashing Christmas Bling Bling.
(Flashing Christmas Lights Necklace and Rhinestone Keychain)

On the 2nd day of Christmas, Santa sent to me 2 Salad Hands.
(2 “hand” forks for tossing salad)

On the third day of Christmas, Santa sent to me
3 Chicken Soups
(Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul, Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul, Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul)

On the fourth day of Christmas, Santa sent to me
4 Things for Your Purse.
(Tabletop purse holder, 2 Solar Flashlights, 2010 Appointment book)

On the fifth day of Christmas, Santa sent to me
5 Smelly Things.
(Tyme’s Frasier Fir Candles, 4 Foaming Bath Powders)

On the sixth day of Christmas, Santa sent to me
6 Christmas Angels.
(6 Silver Christmas Angels for the tree)

On the seventh day of Christmas, Santa sent to me
7 Crystal Magnets.
(Wise Owl magnet + 6 Round glass magnets for the refrigerator)

On the eighth day of Christmas, Santa sent to me
8 Soothing Softies.
(Red and White candy striped fuzzy footies, 60 second fix for Gardener’s hands, Notepad and pencil, Note cube with pencil,
2 crystal glass nail files, Pink gown, Pink Pajamas)

On the ninth day of Christmas, Santa sent to me
9 Tree Decorations.
(1 red with white paw prints for “the pitter patter of puppy feet coming”, 6 icicles, 2 big crystals)

On the tenth day of Christmas, Santa sent to me
10 Pears from Harry’s.
(10 pears from Harry and David’s)

On the eleventh day of Christmas, Santa sent to me
11 Table pretties.
(8 green placemats, 2 packs of napkins, 1 pretty pack of matches)

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Santa sent to me
12 Packs of Power
(12 packs of AA, AAA, and D batteries)

Note on the last day:
Meet me at IHOP for breakfast tomorrow.
Ask your daughter to drive you.
You will know me by the RED Ribbon I’ll be wearing.
Merry Christmas!
Secret Santa

After breakfast we went to see the wreath on dad’s grave:
“Merry Christmas in Heaven, Bob Burke! You are the BEST Secret Santa ever!”

Wow, what thoughtful things you did to lift your mom's spirits, and I'm sure it helped you a lot too! Great that there were neighbors who could help you out as well as the waitress at the restaurant! What an upbeat way to celebrate what could have been a pretty depressing "first".
Some friends of mine did something similar for a woman who was undergoing chemo. At every chemo treatment she received a box that had all sorts of little gifts inside, all wrapped, so it took her a while to open each of them. It brought a lot of joy to the givers, the receivers and the hospital staff.
Such creative and thoughtful people!

LindaF,
Wow! So nice to see your username on the Forum, and with such a lovely story. Hope you and your family are well,
Robin

Thanks, Robin. We are doing well. I will always be grateful to you for helping us with dad's brain donation. We now know exactly what it was (Lewy Body) that took his life and his donation is giving us peace. His final act of kindness was to make every effort to spare some future family. I wrote a long post under obits last night about his final day but it did not post. Maybe someone will help me retrieve it, as I tried to share the things I would have wanted to know. God Bless all the Lewy families and their willingness to help each other up.