It's nearly mid-December, and that means decorating for Christmas.
Yesterday we put up our Christmas tree, and decorated it using
mom's family ornaments.
I'd have to imagine all of these ornaments are dear to Laurel
and mom — they represent memories going back at least to Laurel's
childhood. Decorating the tree without Papa this year must have
been very hard on her.
It was at Christmastime last year that Papa fell. The trauma
significantly accelerated the spread and severity of his
dementia, prompting us to place him in full-time care.
Mom didn't participate in decorating the tree. I suspect she
made herself busy cooking dinner. I'm sure that unpacking and
hanging those ornaments would have been pretty rough on Mom.
For my part, I was free of the significance of the decorations,
but I absolutely understood that Laurel was not. And I thought
she was very brave.
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