a Christmas story
Dec. 11th, 2023 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mickeymI posted this over on FB (and now LJ), but I've shared so much of my life here, for so long, that I can't NOT share this here.
I'm going to preface it with: I have Matthew home, that's my primary focus. Both my kids, home with me. But.
I put our tree up a couple days ago, so the branches could settle (and so the cats could get messing with it out of their systems), but had been waiting for Megan and Matthew to have a day off at the same time so we could get the decoration boxes/totes out — ornaments, nativity, stockings and so on.
All we could find was the tote with wrapping paper, cards, etc., and the smallish tote I put my ceramic/glass serving platters/cookie trays. There was another tote, that had "Xmas decorations" written on it...but when Megan opened it to check, it had my Nsync stuff in it.
Which means that Madisyn intentionally swapped stuff out/around. Which means my heirloom ceramic miniature Christmas tree is gone. The one my grandmother made for me, in 1980.
And there other two other totes missing. All of my tree ornaments, gone. Missing. Whatever word you want to use. Decorations, and knick-knacks that were given to me by friends in years long past. The stocking that my cousin Cindy — who passed away from brain cancer a few years ago — made for me, for my first Christmas. The nativity set that Doug and I bought at Sears, for Christmas 1986. All my snowmen.
It's all gone. Everything, except the few items that were in the one small tote, and my wrapping paper.
I can't even process it. I'm literally numb right now. And I told Megan and Matthew both that I'm going to be like the Whos down in Whoville, glad for what I have and who I have it with. They are just things. But there's a tiny part of me that's sobbing right now, because those things meant a lot to me. Megan told me today that one of the few things about Christmas that she likes is that I told the stories of each piece as I unwrapped them, and put them on the tree, on the shelves, etc. I know all of the ornaments that I had. All of the other decorations I had. When I got them. Who gave them to me.
Christmas is my favorite time of year. Not because of the religious aspect of it, but because of the gifting and giving. The feeling of wanting to make things for people. To make someone's life better, if only in a small way.
And she took it, and she smashed it into the ground. And I don't even know how to begin to process this.
I'm going to preface it with: I have Matthew home, that's my primary focus. Both my kids, home with me. But.
I put our tree up a couple days ago, so the branches could settle (and so the cats could get messing with it out of their systems), but had been waiting for Megan and Matthew to have a day off at the same time so we could get the decoration boxes/totes out — ornaments, nativity, stockings and so on.
All we could find was the tote with wrapping paper, cards, etc., and the smallish tote I put my ceramic/glass serving platters/cookie trays. There was another tote, that had "Xmas decorations" written on it...but when Megan opened it to check, it had my Nsync stuff in it.
Which means that Madisyn intentionally swapped stuff out/around. Which means my heirloom ceramic miniature Christmas tree is gone. The one my grandmother made for me, in 1980.
And there other two other totes missing. All of my tree ornaments, gone. Missing. Whatever word you want to use. Decorations, and knick-knacks that were given to me by friends in years long past. The stocking that my cousin Cindy — who passed away from brain cancer a few years ago — made for me, for my first Christmas. The nativity set that Doug and I bought at Sears, for Christmas 1986. All my snowmen.
It's all gone. Everything, except the few items that were in the one small tote, and my wrapping paper.
I can't even process it. I'm literally numb right now. And I told Megan and Matthew both that I'm going to be like the Whos down in Whoville, glad for what I have and who I have it with. They are just things. But there's a tiny part of me that's sobbing right now, because those things meant a lot to me. Megan told me today that one of the few things about Christmas that she likes is that I told the stories of each piece as I unwrapped them, and put them on the tree, on the shelves, etc. I know all of the ornaments that I had. All of the other decorations I had. When I got them. Who gave them to me.
Christmas is my favorite time of year. Not because of the religious aspect of it, but because of the gifting and giving. The feeling of wanting to make things for people. To make someone's life better, if only in a small way.
And she took it, and she smashed it into the ground. And I don't even know how to begin to process this.
no subject
Date: 2023-12-12 02:26 am (UTC)But it is a gruesome and ugly act, and I'm so very, very sorry for your loss of those things.
(Yes, just 'things', someone might say, but we are ALLOWED to have precious things, and we are allowed to grieve them if something happens to them.)
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2023-12-12 03:32 am (UTC)*hugs*