It's just hubby and me at home right now. Sarah is working and Jordan is in Tulsa with his wife and in-laws. We trade out Thanksgiving and Christmas each year. As the song "Let it snow" says, "The weather outside is frightful. We were on our way to our family Christmas and we saw several wrecks and a car turned sideways on the bridge right in front of us and then it couldn't get traction to go any further. This was around 5 pm and I wasn't feeling too secure in driving another 45 minutes in the blowing snow and blistery wind. Soooooo I told hubby we should turn around and go home. He was so sweet and said we could keep going. We did drive further, but the roads and traffic were getting worse. In the meantime I was worrying about Sarah getting to the hospital so I called my niece, Shelly, and told her we weren't going to make it because of the weather and road condtions and she started crying. I was getting teary too, but I thought I can't start crying too much cause I will make her cry more. You see we were already going to be missing my kids at our Christmas Eve celebration. This is our first Christmas without my dad and her papa and the 2nd Christmas without my mom and her nana. I remember every year dad would have some excuse for not going to Shelly's and usually it would involve the weather. Dad would say, "I'm not getting out cause it's going to be too cold" or "If it's raining, I can't go cause the roads will be bad" or "I'm too old to get out at night". This would start weeks before Christmas. I would tell him "Daddy, you are going to Shelly's" I would also tell him, "Don't worry about it right now. Let's just wait and see what the weather is doing and I can always come by and pick you up." I think now that maybe he just needed us to tell him that we needed him to be there to celebrate Christmas with us.
Thinking about this and not being able to go to our family Christmas causes tears to slowly fall down my cheeks. I was also watching a dreaded Lifetime movie called "The Christmas Hope" and there was a scene with a woman reading Robert Munsch's book, "Love You Forever". I immediately told hubby, "Oh this is a great book but it's so sad." I was telling him how we used it at our Mother's Day celebration with our first graders and their moms and there wouldn't be a dry eye in the room as each child read an excerpt from the book. I was also thinking of my mom and singing to her in October 2007 every Christmas song I could think of.
If you haven't read this book, you need to. It's a winner and a definite keeper. The pictures make the story better but I'm sure you can understand why the tears fall when listening once more to this story.
by Robert Munsch
A mother held her new baby and very slowly rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she held him, she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The baby grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was two years old, and he ran all around the house. He pulled all the books off the shelves. He pulled all the food out of the refrigerator and he took his mother's watch and flushed it down the toilet. Sometimes his mother would say, "this kid is driving me CRAZY!"
But at night time, when that two-year-old was quiet, she opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor, looked up over the side of his bed; and if he was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The little boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was nine years old. And he never wanted to come in for dinner, he never wanted to take a bath, and when grandma visited he always said bad words. Sometimes his mother wanted to sell him to the zoo!
But at night time, when he was asleep, the mother quietly opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep, she picked up that nine-year-old boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a teenager. He had strange friends and he wore strange clothes and he listened to strange music. Sometimes the mother felt like she was in a zoo!
But at night time, when that teenager was asleep, the mother opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep she picked up that great big boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
That teenager grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a grown-up man. He left home and got a house across town. But sometimes on dark nights the mother got into her car and drove across town. If all the lights in her son's house were out, she opened his bedroom window, crawled across the floor, and looked up over the side of his bed. If that great big man was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
Well, that mother, she got older. She got older and older and older. One day she called up her son and said, "You'd better come see me because I'm very old and sick." So her son came to see her. When he came in the door she tried to sing the song. She sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always...
But she couldn't finish because she was too old and sick. The son went to his mother. He picked her up and rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And he sang this song:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my Mommy you'll be.
When the son came home that night, he stood for a long time at the top of the stairs. Then he went into the room where his very new baby daughter was sleeping. He picked her up in his arms and very slowly rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while he rocked her he sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
I sing to you this Christmas Eve on my blog,
"I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be"
To my Shelly,
I love you and miss you and hope to see you soon. As I have told myself many times this year, knowing my kids wouldn't be home to celebrate Christmas on the 24th and 25th, that Christmas doesn't have to be a certain day--it can be whenever you're with your family. Merry Christmas!!
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