A Red Christmas Sweatshirt Day

Christmas Day. Not a creature is stirring...

It has been a very different Christmas week here for all of us. Mom has done unusually well with the disruption, chaos and moment to moment planning. Yesterday, Christmas Eve, Erin flew back to Alabama and Stacey and David left for Oklahoma to be with his family. We did our traditional Christmas morning ritual on Tuesday night after a very nontraditional dinner of crock pot corn chowder. Mom sat with all of us and opened her gifts with everyone else, never questioning the oddness of it. On Wednesday morning Stacey and the kids came by to see Erin off. Not having had breakfast yet, Levi sat at the counter eating a bowl of Cheerios. Erin had not really witnessed her grandma's disdain for Levi but got a hint of it that morning when Mom, lips pursed and eyebrows lowered, picked up her two biscotti in one hand and a full cup of coffee in the other and tried to stand up. I saw what was going on and blocked her way from the table and advised her as I pried the cup from her hand, that she could eat her snack in the same room as Levi or she could explain to Erin why she was leaving. Mom made like she just needed to stretch her legs and sat back down. Levi whispered a "thank-you" and as everyone left for their various destinations, Levi, Micah and Stacey each went to their Grandma and gave her an unacknowledged hug and kiss good-bye.

We had planned to go to one of the Christmas Eve services but for many exhaustive reasons Joe and I decided to go to church on Christmas morning. When I told Mom this, she was okay and changed from the red Christmas sweatshirt and red sweatpants that she had been wearing all day, into her pajamas. This morning, she was up bright and early and back in her red Christmas sweatshirt and red sweatpants. She was even wearing the red Santa socks that I had put in the hamper. With kindness, I suggested some other "Christmas" outfits she could wear as I scraped yesterday"s lunch off of her sweatshirt. I mentioned that Joe was wearing a suit and that maybe she would like to dress up a little. At Mom's insistence that her clothes were not dirty, she had not worn them before, I was more blunt - she had worn them before and the shirt was dirty. Not only that but because she has bladder leakage, her pants were dirty as well. I put a clean outfit out for her and left her with a plea to please change her clothes. About 30 minutes later, Mom came out wearing, what else...the red sweatshirt and sweatpants, carrying one of those headbands with springy, funny, swaying Santa heads on it. At breakfast, she offered to let Julie wear them and I not-so-gently let them both know that the Santa heads were not going to church with us. In spite of my words to Joe about "picking your battles", I tried once again to get Mom to change her clothes but anything I said was met with stony silence. AND, on our way into church, one of the polite lady ushers greeted us and told Mom how nice she looked! So much for my credibility!

Back at home, Joe made pancakes and bacon for us and even had strawberries for hers. Better than IHOP! The stony silence was lifted - for both of us. And Christmas naps helped a lot too.

We did have a very blessed Christmas with all of our girls here talking, sharing, laughing. To be sure, a special moment for a parent. And I am sure that Mom had a glimmer of that feeling as she observed the interaction and busyness of this past week with everyone here. She remembered the melody - and the reason to wear a red Christmas sweatshirt!