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Celebratory Spirit

December 18, 2022 — Pat Bertram

I hadn’t planned to decorate for Christmas this year — I just don’t seem to be able to scrape up any sort of celebratory spirit — but after seeing how a friend who had recently been left alone after the death of her husband still managed to decorate her house with hundreds of ornaments and other Christmas collectibles (Santas, Christmas mice, Christmas teddy bears, votive candle holders) I figured I could put up one little tree.

When I realized the tree was in my garage, and I had to shovel the sidewalk from the house to the garage, that idea quickly evaporated. Even worse, the way I had the contractor make the ramp — right up to the door sill without a step — made the back door impossible to open from the inside when we get a huge amount of snow. Well, it wasn’t actually worse — it just gave me another excuse not to decorate. A couple of days ago, a friend asked me if I put up my tree. I told her my problem, and she volunteered to get it for me. Since she’s always busy, I couldn’t in all fairness let her do it, so yesterday, I spent the morning clearing a path the garage. (Dare I mention that I did it in open-toed shoes? I can’t believe I did that, but truly, I wasn’t out there long enough for my feet to get very cold.)

I still didn’t feel like decorating, but I do like my ornaments. They tell the story of my life.

A nod to my house, of course.

Books, definitely.

My car, naturally.

A dragon because we all need a dragon to guard and protect.

And several other special ones, such as a gardening spade and hats.

So this morning I decorated the tree and put up a wreath, but, knowing that what goes up must come down, I didn’t do anything beyond the simplest tasks so that cleanup in a couple of weeks will be rather simple.

Still, it’s nice to see treasures that are packed away most of the year, and it’s nice to at least pretend I have a celebratory spirit.

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Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One. “Grief: The Inside Story is perfect and that is not hyperbole! It is exactly what folk who are grieving need to read.” –Leesa Healy, RN, GDAS GDAT, Emotional/Mental Health Therapist & Educator.

Posted in culture, life. Tags: books ornament, decorating for Christmas, don't feel like Christmas, dragon ornament, new home ornament, vw ornament, what goes up must come down. 2 Comments »

Ornaments!

December 12, 2019 — Pat Bertram

Next week I am supposed to bring a Christmas ornament to a party and tell the story of the ornament and why it’s special to me. It’s not really my thing, maybe because my grade school never had show and tell, so I hadn’t planned on doing it. Now I can’t. Too many to choose from!

Today I got a gift from my sister (who definitely sends the best presents ever) with instructions to open it right away. Inside the box were five small prettily wrapped gifts — Christmas ornaments for my first tree and my first Christmas in my first house.

Each ornament illustrated a facet of my life.

A nod to my new house, of course.

Books, definitely.

My car, naturally.

A dragon because we all need a dragon to guard and protect.

And . . . Pat in the Hat. (Front and back)

I’m not sure I ever mentioned how I became Pat in the Hat. I’ve always been a big walker, but it wasn’t until my middle years that I wised up and started to wear a hat to protect me from the sun. Back then, the hats I wore weren’t anything special — ball caps or straw hats, anything cheap and accessible.

Later, when I lived with my father, my sister would send the two of us ornately wrapped gifts with gorgeous bows. My father tore off the wrappings, and tossed them away, but I rescued the bows. They were simply too nice to throw away. I didn’t really have any use for those ribbons, but one day, when I came in from a walk, I tossed my hat on table where I’d put the most recent offering, and something clicked. I wrapped the ribbon around the hat, and was thrilled with the festivity of it all.

Not too long afterward, I noticed that the ribbon was gone, and it devastated me that I couldn’t find it. This was shortly after Jeff had died, when any loss, no matter how insignificant, set me on a downward spiral of grief. Although I retraced my steps several times, I never found that bow. Luckily, I had another one packed away. This time, I made sure to tack my makeshift hatband to the hat to keep from losing another ribbon. I still have a stash of ribbons from my sister, as well as a few things I bought to decorate whatever hat I happened to have.

Now, delightfully, not only is she providing decorations for my hat, but also my tree — my dad’s tree, actually, and come to think of it, my sister bought it for him.

For a person who isn’t that fond of show and tell, I sure do a lot of here! Maybe that’s why I don’t need to do it in person.

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