He Did it For Me!

Sometimes, life intervenes and the best laid plans are set aside for more important matters. This post is a personal one. I am a caregiver for my husband who, at age 81, has prostate cancer that has metastasized to his spine. We have our up days and we have our down days. There are appointments for doctors, lab work, hospice nurses and health aides, social workers, etc. Sometimes, I get all of the dishes done, laundry done, blog written, and on other days well.... Do I find time to vacuum? Can't do it anymore cause I use a walker (did I mention I have osteoporosis and bad knees?) When do I take down the Nativity Scene?  Thank goodness for the love and support of a wonderful daughter. 

We really don't know what each month holds. We go on faith that Heavenly Father  knows what the timing for things are and we try to be nice to one another in the meantime. Our daughter came over today and with the help of our grandson, we took down the holiday ornaments, and the nativity scene (talking about the names of the various figures; and explaining what a shepherd and a wise man are) We shared Flammin' Hot Cheetos and forgot about the normal treat of Cuties (clementines). We  talked about the books she'd just bought for her classes at Pima College, ranging from music to astronomy. 

Earlier today, my husband had an appointment with his cardiologist who had not seen him for three months. He looked startled and said, "Santa Claus!!!!" "There's a story behind that," I said.

He Did it For Me!

As a young woman, I'd envisioned that my husband would be a character like me. My mom had dressed up in Halloween costumes greeting kids with a scare at the door, and I've dressed up similarly. I was the Red Devil when my ward, back in the 60's, sold Red Devil Fireworks at a booth in Fullerton, CA. I loved dressing up. I painted Christmas windows every year. So, naturally, I thought my eternal companion would wear matching T-shirts, dress up like Santa to my Mrs. Claus, and so on. WRONG! 

I've always loved Christmas and my daughter was even born on Christmas day! I've loved decorating for Christmas, designing and sending cards for Christmas, making hand-made stockings to hang from what ever place we could find. I've made wreath's from what natural materials were growing nearby (magnolia leave, holly and even seashells). When I was an art museum director, we always had a themed show during the holidays often with community organizations decorating Christmas trees; once sponsoring a contest for hand-made cards for the artists in our area. I wrote an article for Better Homes and Garden's Christmas Ideas Issue in 1975 or so, on Christmas Window Painting and photographed holiday windows for more than 30 years. I've collected Holiday magazines for 20 years and carted them all over the world, wherever we lived from Tennessee to Kwajalein, Marshall Islands to Guadalajara, Mexico. I've taken family photos of my daughter in all sorts of holiday settings to be sent in Christmas cards. But do I have a photo of my husband in any of these? No.

 Christmas 2012

My husband graduated from Princeton, Magna Cum Laude, was a Fulbright Scholar, an intellectual all the way and wouldn't be caught dead in a T-shirt much less one that had writing on it or matched mine. So forget the dressing up like Santa thing. UNTIL THIS YEAR. 

My husband got very ill and was in a lot of pain right around Thanksgiving. The pain pills made him weak-kneed and he really didn't want to stand in front of the mirror and shave. So, one day, I said (heh, heh, read ulterior motive here) "Why don't you just grow a beard?"  "You've got to be kidding," he replied. "No, no," I assured him. "Who will see you except me? And in a few weeks it will be quite respectable." So, that's how it came to pass that my husband grew his Santa beard. One day at a time, he kept telling me, "I don't promise anything." Of course, people did see him, and he always made me explain why he was growing it....for me. And finally Christmas arrived and we got a photo of our granddaughter on "Santa's" lap, and one of my dreams had come true. He really had grown it because it delighted me.

My husband and granddaughter 2012