Christmas Day

Despite, or perhaps because of, our loss Mum and I spent Christmas Day as originally planned with some of our family at my niece's home.  We all knew it would be hard because of the empty place where Dad would have sat, but it was definitely the right thing to do.  My sister was also with us which was good, because she hadn't been able to get to the hospital at all on Tuesday night when Dad passed away.  She had been due to spend time with Mum and Dad on Tuesday and do some shopping for them, but ironically she had stayed away because she had a bad cold and didn't want to pass it on to Dad in his vulnerable state with his lung.  So my niece went over to see them on her own that day.  I'm so glad she was there with them when Dad was taken to hospital.  She was a wonderful support to them from morning until late at night throughout all the traumatic events, and she was with them when Dad breathed his last.  After the shock and strain of going through all that so very recently, she still cooked a marvellous Christmas Day lunch for us all.  I told my sister she should be really proud of her daughter and of how caring and thoughtful she is.

We were tearful at various times during our afternoon together, and of course Dad was in our hearts and our thoughts the whole time.  He loved so much to see the family together, and we loved him so very much too.  In some ways coping with our loss is harder because of it being Christmas, but in another way it has been easier because it's a time when we had already planned to be together.  Even though he wasn't with us in person, Dad was there in spirit.  He would be so happy to know that we still had our family gathering.