Kind of weird Christmas
My family don't celebrate Christmas or buy each other presents, but we usually use the time to catch up, since we spread out across the southern half of the continent. This year was the first year without either of our parents, though, and it did feel a little strange. Dad died a couple of months before last Christmas, and in a lot of ways (due to her advanced dementia) Mum was already gone, but it still felt strange.
I suppose it's because now I'm starting to forget what Mum was like in the last few years of her life, and remember her more as she was. Before the dementia we used to talk on the phone every week or two, and if I was spending Christmas in Adelaide with my sister we'd talk a couple of times a week. She used to love to hear about the films we'd been to see together, and what restaurants we'd been to, and what my sister's dog was getting up to. But no more.
This year, my sister and brother-in-law are planning on buying a new house, so we spent a Sunday down at Aldinga Beach looking at all the display home villages for some ideas. That used to be one of Mum's favourite things to do. Hillary and I kept finding ourselves turning to other about to say "Mum would really like this one..." It was a strange experience. Sad in a lot of ways, but at times almost like Mum was with us again.
I've been sorting through the photos I took over Christmas tonight, and it's making me tear up, like the day I left to come home. Not the usual Christmas at all.
I suppose it's because now I'm starting to forget what Mum was like in the last few years of her life, and remember her more as she was. Before the dementia we used to talk on the phone every week or two, and if I was spending Christmas in Adelaide with my sister we'd talk a couple of times a week. She used to love to hear about the films we'd been to see together, and what restaurants we'd been to, and what my sister's dog was getting up to. But no more.
This year, my sister and brother-in-law are planning on buying a new house, so we spent a Sunday down at Aldinga Beach looking at all the display home villages for some ideas. That used to be one of Mum's favourite things to do. Hillary and I kept finding ourselves turning to other about to say "Mum would really like this one..." It was a strange experience. Sad in a lot of ways, but at times almost like Mum was with us again.
I've been sorting through the photos I took over Christmas tonight, and it's making me tear up, like the day I left to come home. Not the usual Christmas at all.