Christmas was Janet’s favorite time of year. This will be the first one she won’t celebrate in forty-five years.
Even in the middle of summer if she were shopping—especially for someone else—Janet would be so happy she would break out in Jingle Bells. Mind you, she couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it, but right now I’d love to have a CD of her singing every Christmas carol that would fit on a disk.
I think she got love for Christmas from her father who was a dour faced man who mumbled about how everyone else was a crook. Everything was rigged—football games, elections, you name it. Everybody was on the take. Except him, of course. But at Christmas he would go down the grocery aisle buying everything needed for an unforgettable Christmas dinner. He sang Jingle Bells off key just like Janet. Not only did she like giving presents to people, I think she enjoyed the thought Christmas was the only time of year that her father was happy.
Even though Janet was a probation officer and spent most of her time around people who were crooks and who would rig a football game if they only knew how, she still thought the best of people. With encouragement anyone could become nice.
My son and I have decided we need to get out of town on Christmas Eve to celebrate her favorite holiday somewhere with a lot of lights, music and fake snow. Not to get away from memories of Janet, but do something we know would cause her to sing Jingle Bells.
My humble advice to everyone who is experiencing their first Christmas without a loved one is to have fun just as though that person is still here. Cancer can take a person’s life, but it can never take the memories away. Love is eternal, beyond the ravages of death.