Christmas 2014

This Christmas went about as well as expected. Mom had no idea what Christmas was; it is the first year that she has completely forgotten the holidays. That was a little tough...we kept trying to spark her memory with different Christmas decorations, traditions, etc. But it was to no avail. Mom lives in a small little world that revolves around medicine, eating and sleeping. She knows about little else.

My Aunt Claudia (mom's sister) planned a Christmas Eve party at her house. This used to be our family tradition-up until my grandparents died a few years back. Christmas Eve was always a lovely affair. Grandma spent days beforehand baking an array of Christmas goodies and prepared tins of treats for everyone. Dozens of presents were lined under the tree for all of the kids, grandkids and my grandparents. Nobody was forgotten. Aunt Claudia really wanted to recreate Christmas Eve and really wanted my mom to be there. We knew that mom wasn't going to understand the significance or meaning to our traditional gathering, but we really wanted to try to get her there anyway. It was nothing short of a Christmas miracle that dad was able to get mom into the car that Christmas Eve afternoon and across town to her sister's house.

When mom arrived at her sister's house, she walked through the house, searching for people and trying to make sense of who everyone was. Unfortunately, she never connected who her nieces and nephews were and it even took her awhile to figure out who my brother and his wife were (they had arrived at my Aunt's directly from Arizona). She paced the house for a good amount of time; it was hard to get her to settle down. She walked around, repeating,

"I miss my brother Jeff, I wish he was here I miss him."

We laughed a couple times when she wandered around searching for the grandkids - my sister's daughter, Raelynn, in particular. At one point, mom stuck her head outside the back door in an effort to locate Raelynn and as Raelynn responded to grandma's calls, my mom took Raelynn by the hand and brought her over to my sister, stating,

"Here you need to be with your mom, you should stay with your mom."

We were able to finally get her to settle down and sit with us; for a little while, anyway. When she was ready to go, she was ready to go! She charged out the door and plopped herself down inside dad's truck at one point. She eventually had to go potty and reluctantly came back inside the house. Before she could head back to the truck, we pulled her into a family picture and dad was able to settle her down once again (I think he bribed her by showing her her nightly medicines).

She didn't understand one bit of Christmas Eve, but we were able to get her there and spend some time together as a family. My Aunt did a beautiful job of recreating our Christmases of the past. I know that we will look back on this memory with fondness and I'm glad mom was able to be there in some small way.

Christmas Day didn't go as well as Christmas Eve. Of course mom is set in her own routine so it meant nothing to her when we all showed up Christmas morning for our traditional Christmas breakfast and gift exchange. We tried to get her to sit with us to open up some presents, but it was her time to sit on her bed and watch the clock for the next hour until it was time to potty. My sisters and I took in some presents for her to open in her bedroom. I was the smart one of the group (ha ha) and I put her presents in an open basket rather than in a gift bag, since I knew she wouldn't understand that concept. It's hard to Christmas shop for someone who just sits on her bed half the day, so we all opted out of sentimental gifts and bought her practical gifts that she would enjoy instead, which includes: make up, Ensure and Bath & Body Works. When I presented her her basket, she couldn't connect that it was a gift. She must have thought that I was showing her something that she already had. It wasn't until my sis-n-law stepped in and starting taking body lotions out of her gift bag that the light bulb suddenly went on.

"Oh, this is for me? You bought this for me too? Oh yeah, that's so good."

And with that, mom took her gifts and put them in her home.

Mom lost interest in viewing her other gifts after she put her lotions away, so when she came out of her room to take her empty "Slim Fast" cup to the kitchen sink, we redirected her to the couch in an effort to get her to open up the rest of her gifts. She didn't understand what we wanted her to do and she kept trying to get up to leave. My brother and I held her on the couch for a few minutes, with me draping my legs over her in an effort to get her to stay, he he. As we tried to explain to her that she had more gifts, mom complained about how she needed to go up to the store to get more make-up. My dad brought over his gift bag to her which contained more make-up than any one person needed. When mom inspected eyeliners (tearing it out of it's packages to make sure it was the right one) she wiggled her way out of our grasp and made a mad dash to her bathroom, where she put her gifts in their home.

All in all, I enjoyed the holiday season. I wasn't expecting much with mom so I wasn't let down as hard, if that makes sense. I still miss her all the time and it's so disheartening to watch her slip away and disengage with the family. I just can't imagine what next year will bring, although traveling anywhere (even across town) will be out of the question I'm sure.

You might also notice some other changes in mom. She has started using her blue eyeliner/eyeshadow for her eyebrows. The first time this happened (a few weeks ago) I thought it was a simple mistake. But she's been doing her make-up like this ever since. She also wears her shirts backwards most days. :(

What Matters Most

I absolutely love the holiday season. The changing seasons, the chill in the air, the scents of pumpkin and holiday spices, the feeling of gratitude and helping others in need...I love everything about this season-from October until January.

Now that Halloween and October birthdays are over, I decided to get focused on Christmas! I know...can't the turkey have his holiday? ;) I really want to get my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving so that I can sit back and truly enjoy all the holiday traditions and festivities that the season brings. I don't want to have to think about shopping after November! Yesterday, while my kids were at school and my youngest was at his preschool group, I decided to tackle some Christmas shopping. I love Christmas presents, and not for materialistic reasons. I really enjoy finding that "perfect" gift for the people I love. I love seeing their faces when they open up their gifts that I've carefully selected that I know they'll love. I love gifts because I love giving.

While driving to my shopping destinations yesterday, I was alone in my thoughts. It's a rare occasion that I drive anywhere alone; those quiet moments always cause me to pause and reflect. My thoughts quickly turned to my mom. Last year, we had a pretty good feeling that it was our last Christmas with mom knowing what the holiday was. Given that she hasn't been remembering any of our birthdays over the past few months, I am doubtful that she will have any clue about what the upcoming holidays represent. I was remembering the beautiful quilt I made her last year and how excited I was to give it to her. I was very proud of that perfect gift I had created for her. And then my thoughts turned to a day, not too long ago, when I was at mom's house. She was sitting on her bed in her usual silence, arms folded across her stomach. I tried to strike up a conversation with her and reached for the blanket that was folded up on dad's side of the bed. I spread the quilt across the two of us and pointed to some pictures of her grandkids.

"Remember this blanket I made for you last Christmas? Who are these people on here, mom. Do you remember?" I asked, pointing at the square with my son's face printed on.

Mom wouldn't meet my eyes nor would she look at the blanket. She seemed agitated that I was bothering her with incessant chatter.

"No, that goes there," she finally responded, grabbing the quilt from me and tossing it back to my dad's side of the bed.

As I reflected on this, driving in my car on my way to pick out those perfect gifts, I thought about all of the perfect gifts I have selected for my mom over the years. Though they were meaningful in the moment, they mean nothing to her now. They hold no value or significance to mom any longer. All of the material things that she owns in life- every gift she's received and everything she has worked so hard to buy for herself- no longer holds meaning for her (save it be her blow dryer, make up, and a few other daily objects that she uses). What makes it even harder is that not only do the "things" we've gotten her no longer matter, but even the memories of them are fading; the memory of why each of her belongings are significant.

As this realization hit me, my perspective changed just a little. I spend so much time thinking about getting the perfect gift and giving people "things" that will make them happy. At the end of the day, is that what really matters? I'm not saying that it's not important to me; I still love giving personal gifts to my loved ones and seeing that look of happiness when they open their gift. But thinking about my mom was a reminder to me to focus on what matters most: spending time and making memories with the people I love. I am excited to get those special gifts and by Thanksgiving, I'd like to have them all wrapped and ready to place under the Christmas tree so that I can devote the rest of my energy on making the season special for those around me. We can't take our material things with us when we die. My mom has already reached the point where those material things don't matter. Unfortunately even her memories are leaving her. But I believe that one day, all of those memories will be restored. Traditions, time spent with loved one, lifting those up around us, making memories...that is what matters the most!

Christmas 2013

Another year has gone by. Christmas wasn’t the worst case scenario with mom; she remembered what the 25th represented. But the changes in mom were very obvious and we believe this is likely the last year that mom will remember what Christmas is. We decided to just make the most of what we have and I tried really hard this year to adopt an attitude of positivity and focus on what we have rather than be down about what we’ve lost.

Last year, mom was obsessed with continuing her family tradition of gathering her family together for Christmas Eve. This year, we heard not one word about Christmas Eve. As the 24th approached, we made plans to have a more intimate celebration with only my siblings (and their families) and my parents (rather than the usual extended family celebrations from the past). On Christmas Eve, we gathered at mom and dad’s house with our traditional holiday foods and gifts. Mom didn’t understand why we were there.

“Christmas is tomorrow, the 25th,” she said.

We tried to explain Christmas Eve, but the memories have seemingly disappeared. It took a lot of coaxing and convincing to get mom to sit down and open presents with us. In spite of the sad reality of the situations, we tried to find the humor and the bright spots of the night. Mom was really cute (and funny) when she opened her gifts. With each gift, she looked at it as if it were a foreign object, and then once she figured out what it was, she hurried off to put it in her room where it belonged. 

“What is this, what is this? Huh? This is the lip stuff, yeah? The lip, the Mar-the Mary-the Mary Kay stuff too for the lips? Yeah? Oh good, oh good I needed this too, that’s really good,” she said when opening my sister’s gift of the Mary Kay Satin Lips set, which she’d been nagging me for for the past two weeks. Then she stood up and hurried away to her room to put it in the little basket on her counter, beside her empty tubes of lip cream.

Each time she took her presents to their new homes, it was hard to draw her back to the living room to open some more. I was so excited to give her my gift. I got the idea during mom’s hospital stay in the summer. Her room was cold and the blankets were thin; mom was freezing the whole time. I wished that she had a nice blanket she could bring along, and so my idea for her Christmas gift was formed. That month following her hospital stay, my sister-in-law and I took all of the grandkids for a photo shoot. I selected some beautiful fabric and immediately got to work. This gift would be one-of-a-kind and I had hoped mom would love and appreciate it.

  By the time it was my turn to give mom my gift, she was antsy and did not want to sit down. I was able to get her next to the couch where she stood and opened my box. She held the blanket in her hand and said,

“What is this?”

I told her it was a blanket.

“A blanket, I’m confused, what’s a blanket?”

I explained to her the purpose of a blanket and pointed to the pictures of the grandchildren as she still tried to piece together the clues of what her gift was.

“Oh a blanket,” she interrupted, “the thing you put on your bed to keep warm? Is that what it is, it goes on my bed?” she asked.

“Yes mom, that’s right,” I said, holding her back for just a minute longer to show her again the pictures of the kids. She was ready to put the blanket in it’s place.

  “See here, mom? These are the kids, this is Raelynn right here and her name is right next to it. And here is Ryder,” I explained, as I pointed to both the names I had embroidered as well as the pictures of each grandchild.

The lightbulb finally went on.

“Oh the kids, all the kids are on here too, all of the kids are here?” she asked, glancing momentarily at the pictures.

“Yes, all the grandkids,” I replied, smiling that she had made the connection.

“Ok, I’m gonna go now,” she said, motioning towards the hallway with her blanket.

Mom took the blanket back to her bedroom and tossed it onto her bed. My sister found her back there, sitting on her bed, next to her blanket, waiting to take her medicine (which, by the way, wasn’t scheduled to be taken for another hour).

That was the extent of our celebrating with mom. On Christmas morning, we have a traditional breakfast which dates back to when my mom was a kid; her mom created this tradition. Mom refused to come out of her room to join us. She did come over to my house later in the day for Christmas dinner with my dad’s side of the family. She brought herself a sandwich for dinner and sat at the computer. When my Aunts gave her gifts, she told them that she didn’t know what those things were and that she didn’t need them. My Aunts, understanding mom’s condition, just chuckled and gave her hugs.

Though the memories we are able to create with mom are becoming less and less, I embrace the time and the memories we do have with mom. Though it’s not the ideal situation, I do think that someday we will look back on this Christmas Eve with fondness in our hearts.

Birthday Presents From The Heart

My daughter is going through a phase of wanting to give gifts. At 8 years old, she doesn’t have money or transportation to go and buy gifts for people, however. When she’s feeling particularly loving towards someone, she will scavenge in her room until she finds just the right thing to give as her gift. Among some of the gifts I’ve received recently are: my grandmother’s stuffed animal (which I gave to her when grandma died), plastic necklaces, a homemade necklace of random beads, pictures from coloring book pages, a child’s headband, her medal from school…just to name a few.

Each time she gives me her gift, it’s wrapped up, haphazardly, in whatever paper she’s been able to scrounge up. Sometimes she will find a gift bag and stick her treasure inside. She always has a huge smile on her face and watches in anticipation as I open up her heartfelt gift. Of course I play along and give a show of excitement and thank her for her thoughtfulness.

Since my mom has been stricken with dementia, she has become a child in nearly every way. Gift giving is no exception. Last night, we gathered together for a family dinner to celebrate my sister’s birthday. For a few weeks leading up to Christina’s special day, mom kept telling her that she wanted to take her to that “bath place” (Bath & Body Works) to buy her some good body stuff. With all the chaos that has ensued over the past few weeks, mom never made it out with anyone to go shopping.

Last night, as we gathered for Christina’s birthday, mom came rushing into the kitchen and put something in Christina’s hands: one plastic-sealed bottle of Country Apple Scented body gel and one half-empty bottle of Country Apple Scented body lotion.

“Since I couldn’t take you to that bath place here, happy birthday,” she said with a big grin.

There was no card; no pretty bows or wrapping paper. Just a recycled gift that came from mom’s heart. Christina smiled (and chuckled) as she accepted her sweet gift and thanked mom.

Soon after, Christina received a work call on her cell phone. As she walked down the hall to take the call privately, mom followed behind her, singing into her ear “Happy Birthday to You.”

I’m growing to appreciate these small, heartfelt moments from my mom. I see her as I see my children, eager to please and with such an innocence about her. For me, the gifts I’ve always appreciated the most are the gifts that come from the heart. Mom has surely mastered the art! :)