My Mom's Last Gift to Her Children

It has been a difficult few months, and the holidays have brought with them many memories and emotions. As most of you already know, my mom passed away on September 6th of this year, having had a stroke two days before.

Christmas was always a very special time for my mom, and nearly every Christmas memory I have has something to do with her. She loved decorating the tree. She made several kinds of delicious Christmas candy. She helped us make and decorate Christmas cookies. On Christmas Eve she would bake cinnamon rolls. She hand made stockings for each of us.

Needless to say, this Christmas season has brought each of these memories forward. I'm so blessed to say that each and every one is a fond memory.

This evening (Christmas Eve), as my family gathered to read the account of the birth of Jesus, a new memory was created. Traditionally, we open one gift on Christmas Eve. This year, however, my dad said that he had a gift for each of us to open.

Dad went to the closet and pulled out a box. First, he pulled out a bag with 6 boxes of Junior Mints, one of my mom's favorite candies (one for each of us). He had found them in my mom's closet.



Then he pulled out six wrapped gifts. They were calenders that my mom had made for us on Shutterfly with photos of our family from this year. Making calenders was one of her favorite things to do.



Dad then explained that they had arrived via UPS on September 16th. When he saw what they were, he logged into Mom's Shutterfly account to see when she had made them.

She made the calendars on September 3rd—the day before her stroke.

This was her last gift to us.

I am so thankful for my mom's life. She loved us, her children, dearly. She was a tremendous giver every day of her life. How perfect then, that on the last day of her conscious life, she gave us one last gift.