The Best Christmas Gift Ever
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
By: Tracy Hunt

The Best Christmas Gift Ever

Two years ago, our Christmas Eve started out being a very somber and life-changing moment in all our lives. Our beloved mother, who was in the midst of the devastating disease of Alzheimer's (and was suffering from lung cancer as well we found out later), did not feel well enough to come out of her bedroom and participate in the life-long tradition of opening presents under the Christmas tree. She did not even feel well enough for us to bring her presents in to her to be opened. As the possibility of this being the "beginning of the end" and not having our mother with us to share another Christmas began hitting us all in the face, we sadly opened our presents, ever-aware that it was without the person who had always been the stronghold of our family to share this experience with us.
When the presents had all been opened, we went in to check on our mother. God had granted us a very special gift. Mom was "back to herself" again, feeling better, and "very hungry". It had been difficult to get her to eat anything the last few weeks, let alone hear her say she was "starving". She said she was "ready to party". With help, she made her way down the hall. She was joking, laughing, and eating like there was no tomorrow.
We continued our blissful miracle that God had granted us for two more hours with our mother, and watched as she took so much joy in opening her Christmas presents with the awe, wonder, and excitement of a small child. We knew that we were meant to cherish this moment. And that we did. She finally decided she was done "partying" at midnight on Christmas Eve and we all went to bed with tears of joy in our eyes and a warmth that knew no bounds in our hearts. Our beautiful mother passed away 25 days later. We are so fortunate and blessed to have shared that last Christmas with her with those stolen moments of Christmas magic and how things used to be. We will treasure it forever.