The Day After Christmas or Reason # 61124 Why I Miss You

Bear and I used to write each other silly notes.

The day after Christmas in 2007, which ended up being our last Christmas together, I wrote this silly note to Bear:

T'was the Day After Christmas
and all through the house
not a creature was stirring
not even a mouse
(except the house was a mess
and who was left to clean it but the mrs!)

Momma is so tired
All she wants to do is sit by the fire
(except there is no fireplace to be seen
so momma keeps warm by doin' the cleanin'!)

The stockings are flung over the chair
emptied of the contents Santa put there
(surprised Santa came by this year
to leave presents for one naughty bear)

©2007tla

Special Handling Please ( A Christmas Poem for the Bereaved)

SPECIAL HANDLING PLEASE

I was handed a package the other day.
It was wrapped securely to be mailed away
Attached to the outside as plain as could be
Was a simple note for all to see.

Please rush through the holiday season;
Too painful to open for any reason.
Contained within, find one broken heart-
Fragile, broken, falling apart.

Tried to go shopping the other day;
The hype of the season blew me away.

Sat down to write cards,
That was insane.
Couldn't find the list
Or think of my name.

People say,
"Come over, be of good cheer."
"Celebrate the holidays,
Prepare a New Year."

But my grief overwhelms me
Like waves in the sea.
Can they cope with my crying,
an unsettled me?

I don't have any holiday cheer.
Decorations, traditions, big family meal
I can't do this year.
Do you know how I feel?

Guilty and frustrated!
I've let everyone down!
Our holiday celebrations
used to be the best in town.

So just ship me away
Address unknown
When my grief is better
I might fly home.

written by: Mary J. Pinkava

Christmas in Heaven

---

CHRISTMAS IN HEAVEN

---

We're wondering what Christmas in Heaven is like
As we grieve alone and pray,
longing for one who has gone before
To spend Christmas in Heaven today.

And so in our dreams we wander far
From the scenes and sounds of earth
‘Til we catch the strains of the Heavenly choir
As they sing of the Christ Child's birth.

The Angels we envision there
As they join in the festive play
And there amid the throng is our Loved One
Spending Christmas in Heaven today.

There's joy in the faith that teaches
When our life's work is done
Of a place in Heaven awaiting
And the crown we worked for is won.

In our grief may we learn well the lesson
So to work and suffer and pray
As to merit the joys of our loved one
And to spend Christmas together some day.

Author Unknown

WW: Reason # 47884 Why I Miss You

These are just a few of the tags. I can't find the rest, or maybe they got tossed. Anyway, he felt that he was only allowed to give a certain number of gifts so he had to come up with some other ideas. They included "Santa", "The Christmas Elves", "The Christmas Ghost", snowmen, reindeer, etc. Anyway, that's the kinda guy he was. And he never forgot Babybear either. *sigh*

Toy Drive 2009

Every year, I donate a teddy bear in memory of my babybear to the Children's Miracle Toy Drive. This is the teddy bear I donated this year.



I like to think he'll bring a smile to some deserving child this year. Just because Christmas no longer exists for me, doesn't mean it has to cease to exist for someone else.

Wordless Wednesday: Emma & Santa

Sorry this is late in coming but my scanner would not scan. I finally got it to work today.

We did not celebrate Christmas this year. I knew it would be too sad, (Full Story HERE) but I did not want to regret not getting a photo of Emma with Santa. Emma was happy to see Santa and get a bag of cookies from him. Although, like me, I'm sure her only wish is to see her daddy again.

It doesn't look much different than last year's photo! This time, though, I remembered her hat!

Recycle Your Old Christmas Cards

Mom4Life posted a great idea for recycling your Christmas cards. See her post HERE.

I didn't celebrate Christmas this year but I thought I would pass this along for those of you who did, and who may have accumulated lots of cards. I probably have some old ones from previous years that I could send out.

And speaking of cards.... Don't forget my Card Making Challenge!

Angel

The last few years I have been looking for "the perfect" tree topper. I finally found one this week.... at Superstore of all places!! It wasn't even in the same row as the Christmas decorations, but instead with the holiday dishes in the kitchenware section.

Ironically, it has to be this year that we found it. I don't even know if we will even celebrate Christmas this year, but I bought the tree topper anyway.

Our tree has always been decorated with angels, bears and snowmen, so it's perfect.

Isn't it beautiful? I love it.

Also ironically, it looks alot like a tree ornament I made the first year after my daughter's death. I'll have to look through my archives for a photo of that.

Talk about Tuesday - Christmas Ornament

click above image to see what others are talking about!

I have been wanting to talk about this for a couple months now! I haven't, only because a couple of my readers were getting these ornaments for Christmas from me.

I always make ornaments to honor my daughter and I make them for a few fellow angel moms that I know. This is the ornament I made this year:



I used pink ribbon for girls, blue for boys, yellow for unknown genders. I also made a couple other colors for those who had more than one loss. Anyway, it was a pretty simple ornament to make, but when you make several of them, it can be time consuming! However, I think it was worth it in the end.

Finding Noel - by Richard Paul Evans

After re-reading The Christmas Box, I decided that I would like to read other novels by the author. And so, when I was at the library, I picked up a copy of Finding Noel.

It is the beginning of the Christmas season and Mark Smart finds himself with one thing going wrong after another. After his car breaks down, he meets Macy Wood, and soon finds his view of Christmas, and life in general, forever changed.

I enjoyed this book and found it difficult to put down once I started. I do most of my reading at the end of the day after I've crawled into bed. Unfortunately, sleep overtook my anxiousness to read this book, but I still managed to read it in just a couple of days time.

If you're a fan of The Christmas Box, you will enjoy this book too.

T'was The Day After Christmas

Well, we survived another Christmas, our 3rd without our babybear. Here are a few pictures.


Our family portrait. The bear represents our babybear.


Emma helped open her own gifts.

Here she is playing with one of her gifts. She was spoiled!


Tuckered out after a long day.

Tuesday Memes

Thought I would "tackle" both memes in one post today, simply because I'm too exhausted to do two.

The last couple weeks have been pretty busy. I have been tackling alot! I have been making Christmas gifts for some family and friends. I'd post a picture except that a couple of my regular readers are receiving these gifts! ;) So you'll have to wait until after the holidays to see photos!

I also have been writing out Christmas cards. It made me question why I agreed to join a card swap with some fellow angel moms I know! Ack! All in all, between these cards, the cards I send out to my friends and family as well as a few parcels, I think we spent about $100 just on shipping! I am not sure if I will join the card swap next year, just for that reason. But how nice it is to receive a card that has my daughter's name on it!

In addition to this, a couple moms I know have recently had babies and so I've been getting their baby gifts ready and not to mention looking for Christmas gifts, wrapping them, and Christmas baking as well.

There's a big part of me that will be glad when the holidays are all over! So far, I have made a few batches of nuts & bolts, a batch of ginger pennies, and I just finished making my first batch of peanut butter bars. I'll make a second batch tomorrow, I think. My husband actually made a couple batches of shortbread cookies too. Hopefully, we won't eat them all before Christmas! I'll probably post photos when I do my Christmas post.

I still need to get a few more stocking stuffers and another smallish gift for my husband, but I don't know what to get! He always says "We're not buying much this year" and then he goes and buys way more than I do! Well, excuse me, my mistake, some of the gifts under the tree are from Santa and some are from "the Christmas elves" *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge* (I didn't even know elves gave presents, I thought they just made them!)

It's going to be a long week though, as I agreed to work on Saturday, Dec. 22nd so I could get the 24th off. As much as I really do not want to work a 6 day week, I really rather have the 24th off! Hopefully, I'll still have time to TACKLE everything else on my to-do list without ending up on Santa's Naughty List when I get frustrated at the overload!

Surviving Christmas

Surviving Christmas was on television the other day and we decided to watch it. The local tv guide only gave it 1 star but we enjoyed it. I certainly wouldn't pay 10 dollars to see it in the theatre, but it was a decent movie, and it had some genuinely funny parts.

So if you're looking for a lighthearted, humorous movie this holiday season, give Surviving Christmas a looksee. I wouldn't recommend it for children though, as there are some adult references.

Finally, Santa pics

The Christmas Box

If you're looking for a good Christmas book to read, might I suggest you pick up a copy of The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans.

The story is about a young family who learn what Christmas is really all about. I first heard of this story when the tv movie came out several years ago. Since I have had my daughter, this story has a new meaning to me.

Many bereaved parents will know that this book is also the inspiration for the Angel of Hope Statues that are erected throughout the world. I sincerely wish there was one near me so I could see it in person myself.

Whether you've had a loss or not, you will love this book. It is a beautiful story, and I plan to read it again this Christmas Season.

Spreading Christmas Cheer

Every year during the Christmas Season, the Christmas Cheer Board hosts a Toy Drive to collect new toys for underprivileged children. Every year, I donate a teddy bear in honor of my daughter whose nickname is "babybear". The picture below is the bear I donated this year. Isn't he adorable? I sure hope some little girl or boy will love the bear as much as I know my little girl would have.

Emma and Santa

We took Emma to see Santa today! :) Unfortunately, we have to wait a couple weeks to get the photos back. I can't wait to see how they turn out! I forgot to try and put the little hat on Emma, but she did have her Jingle Bell collar on. :) She sat still for the most part, and I think the camera guy captured her smiling. I hope so!

While we were waiting for our turn, we were in the big room with tons of dogs, and I think only 2 cats, and get this, a rat! Emma was mostly good, but she got scared a couple times, especially when a bigger dog walked by. When they got close to her (whether they were coming to her or not) she would bark as if to say "you don't scare me!" but you could see her shaking a bit. I think she was overwhelmed! She's never been around that many dogs in a small space like that before. The only other time she's been around that many dogs was at the Dog Party but it was outdoors and not that many dogs were very close at once. In Puppy Class, there was less than a dozen dogs and we were spread out across the room, and Emma was one of the bigger dogs in puppy class!

But on the whole she did well, and we were very proud of her. :) Looking forward to getting the pictures back!

Christmas Giveaway

Click the banner below to check out the Christmas Giveaway hosted by 5 min for mom.