Some days are pretty much good all the way through, but most days are a mixture. Sprinklings of sorrow and hope with splashes of unexpected joy thrown in. A mixed bag. Yesterday was no exception. I started doing some decorating for Christmas which always puts me in a good mood. And every year I say I won’t do as much but I always do anyway. Once I get started I don’t want to stop. I do moving and unpacking the same way, I pull a marathon. I don’t want to stop until it’s done, then I collapse.

We got a call that our former neighbor Estelle passed away. She had just celebrated her 89th Birthday. I had just finished hanging the little lace angels she left me on each side of my bedroom tree earlier that morning…..yes, I do have a bedroom tree. Victorian. So that was sad, and yet she was a believer, so it was also cause for celebration. That, and she won’t have prolonged suffering at a nursing home or hospital. I like to think she saw Jesus first, then her husband Al, whom she missed and talked about so much.

I decorated pretty much the whole day. And in the middle of it all, Elaine’s Mom was doing her usual pacing in and out, but with a twist this time. I kept noticed her going through her purse looking for something, which she does every now and then. She seemed agitated. Some days she doesn’t touch her purse, other days it is a source of consternation and focus for the whole day. Yesterday she grabbed her purse and headed out the door like she was running away from home. I watched her to make sure she brought her purse back, that meant she was only going “around the horn” as she puts it. Around the block. In a gated park, our “blocks” are small.

When Elaine came home she did it again. Grabbed her purse and took off. So Elaine finally made the call to the Doctor that will set in motion her placement at an Alzheimer’s unit. We both have to work, and we can’t leave knowing that she may take off. It is no longer safe. That was a hard call for her to make, but it had to be done.

At 9:00 last night I was still dragging stuff out of storage. Elaine asked if I was ever going to sit down.

So, Christmas has come to our house. Three Nativity scenes, one of which I added cats to, I just know they had to be there.  I like to think one of them crept up to where Jesus lay and kept him warm. Four small trees, assorted wreathes, garland, star lights, animals in the sleigh, big Costco Santa, and squirrel helper, big Costco Snowman, and a big gaping hole where the main tree will go this weekend.

It was a day of hardship, joy, sadness but ultimately we know we will be okay, because we know the Savior.

I will say, not rest in peace Estelle, but enjoy the beginning of the rest of your life in Heaven!

I will see you there when God calls me home.

^“But thanks be to God!He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:57,58