Christmas "Presence"

My sister in-law recently posted on face book a video of my husbands 101 year old Grandmother dancing with a teddy bear that sings "That's Amore"  on Christmas Eve. The video was so full of Christmas joy, and his grandmother personified that joy.  Gram has seen 101 Christmas's come and go, and she has watched many of her loved ones pass away over the years, yet she celebrates life and continues to bless us with her "presence".  "She" is the best Christmas present we receive from her each year when the presents are being passed around on Christmas Eve.

One day, she will not be present to celebrate Christmas with us, but the gift of her presence will live on in our hearts.  She is my husbands past, my husbands present and my husband's future.  Because of the gift she and Grandpa Vaudo gave to him.  They gave him his mother, who in turn gave him life, and who in turn gave him to me, so that we could give our five children life. The present that keeps on giving.

We are truly blessed to have Gram, but we are also truly blessed to have had all of our ancestors.  When our daughter Danielle was born in 1984, she had four grandparents, and 8 great grandparents living.  We celebrated Christmas with all of them, and the gift of their presence in Danielle's life was priceless.  I can remember Danielle singing to all of these grandparents and great grandparents, as soon as she learned to sing, and she gave all of them, the gift of song and her presence in their lives.

When I look back over the years, I see, my Nana and Grampy Dougherty's house with their Charlie Brown Christmas tree, and I can hear in my memories Bing Crosby singing in the back round, and Grampy singing along with him, while Nana puts the Roast Beef dinner on the table for our Christmas dinner.  I see Nana and Werner (my step grandfather..my Grampy Feeley passed away when I was 4) Aunt Carol, Uncle Lou, Uncle Gary, Aunt Gina and our families celebrating Christmas Day at alternating houses year after year.  I see Donnie and I heading over to Bedford on Christmas Eve after we had just been in Lincoln with my parents and my grandparents, to continue Christmas Eve with his parents and Grandparents.  And then on Christmas Day, after being with my relatives, we would go over to his house and spend the rest of the day with his fathers parents, his mothers parents and his parents. 

We did alot of running around back then, and at that went on for years until Ryan was born.  After Ryan was born, the Holidays began to change.  Great Grandpa died in 1988, and my grandfather Dougherty passed in 1993.  Since then we lost all of our other grandparents, and Gram is our last surviving Grandparent, and our children's last living Great Grandparent.  My mother has fought and beat her battle with Cancer, my father survived a double bypass, Donnie's father deals with diabetes, and his mom thankfully is in good health.  We have been given some of the best Christmas presents any one could ever ask for ...we have been given the gift of all of these relatives "Presence" in our lives.  They are our gifts that we treasure in our hearts not just at Christmas, but in every day, in every way.  They are our past, our present and our future. 

I write this as I was taught to write and taught my children to write Thank You notes whenever we received gifts.  I write this as a Thank You to all of my relatives living and those who are no longer with us.  Thank you (to all of our relatives) for the unending gift of your "Presence" in our lives.

Tonight is New Years Eve 2012 and as we go forward into 2013, lets remember to always be appreciative the gift of our loved ones "Presence" in our lives, whether they are still with us or in our memories.