A Perfect Christmas Gift

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about Christmas lately.

I’ve been thinking about how so many of us will not be seeing relatives from far away and I’ve been thinking about how so many families might be in a situation where this could be the last Christmas for some of their older relatives and that sucks.

A couple days ago in my HOME BACE membership, I gave all my members a challenge for the weekend.

I encouraged them to write a letter to an older relative they wouldn’t be able to see during the holidays this year, and share a favorite memory or two and some of the things they love about them.

And then that got me to thinking about something I did for my grandmother for Christmas back in 2008.

My grandmother and I were always very close.

We had a lot in common. She had four kids, she was a teacher, and she loved to write.

She was THE BEST letter writer.

In 2008 she was eighty-six years old.

She was still pretty active and her mind was still fairly sharp.

And I wanted to give her a gift that she’d be able to appreciate and look at for the rest of her years with us.

I didn’t think she was going anywhere anytime soon, but I wanted her to have something she’d be able to enjoy for as long a time as possible.

So I asked all my relatives to write her a letter.

And then we put them into an album.

It was probably one of the coolest gifts I ever made for anyone.

Her sisters and sons and daughters and cousins and in-laws and nieces and nephews and grandchildren and great grandchildren all contributed.

She LOVED it.

After she died, I inherited the book we made her.

I was reading through it today.

It was the BEST. My family did an awesome job writing to her and about her.

Here’s the cover —  she’s holding Number 3 not long after he was born.

Wasn’t she so pretty?

Her name was Miriam, and she loved gardening and flowers.

Anyway, my idea was to have everyone write letters directly to Gma as we grandkids called her.

Some did that.

Others wrote about her in the third person like we were publishing a book about her.

But it didn’t matter. Everything my family wrote was awesome.

Some people made collages and had more pictures and less words.

Others wrote really awesome letters.

This was my dad’s letter.

He and my mom started dating when they were 13, and my mom lived a mile or so away, and my dad would run home from her house, often after whatever time my grandpa told him to be home (or when he told my dad not to go at all), and that might be one of my favorite parts of his letter…

When I was late getting home from Mallory Hill you never snitched to Dad that I was late and when I did arrive home before Dad, all sweaty because I ran home, you made sure I dried off quick in case Dad showed up.

💖💖💖💖💖💖

My brother, a dude of few words, wrote such a good one!

She was our nursery school teacher. My favorite part of his letter?

…Helping me write the “E” in Eric without the six to eight horizontal lines I used.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

She got letters from her sisters.

Gma was one of four girls, and her sister Joan’s husband, Dom, wrote this one:

Miriam as a teenager was the prettiest girl in Georgetown. All of the fellows liked her — she was very popular. She grew up to be a fine person and was always a lady.

Oh, that one makes me super teary.

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

There are many, many more pages in my Gma’s special Christmas album.

And so I just wanted to share this with you, because this is something we ALL could do.

We could all organize special albums for our relatives from far away.

Grandchildren could make SUPER cute letter albums for their grandparents.

I mean, it could work for anyone.

It’s not the same as seeing our loved ones in person.

But in some ways, it might be even better.

Because how often do we say these things to our family when we see them in person?

So anyway, if you are going to be missing family this holiday season, I just thought maybe you might wanna get started on an album of your own.

Happy letter writing!