I have always looked forward to Christmas.
Except for one year.
My sister Anne Marie was very ill, and I just couldn’t feel the joy of the season.
So, instead of going to get a freshly cut tree from a lot and decorating it with my friends, Bob and Heather, I decided not to put up a tree.
When I told Heather that I was skipping our annual tradition, she invited me to come to their place and help them to decorate their tree. As I put ornaments on their tree’s branches, I knew the decorations evoked memories of happy events, important places, and special moments for my friends.
And, I thought to myself: I have a fine collection of ornaments, too.
So, on my way home, I bought myself an artificial tree from Walgreens. It wasn’t very tall or full, but putting my ornaments on its branches — and remembering special times with family and friends — restored my Christmas spirit.
That was Anne Marie’s last Christmas.
Her legacy lives on, though, through the lives of her children and grandchildren, and in the happy memories of her that I carry around in my heart.
I especially feel her presence each year, as I hang ornaments that she gave to me on my smallish Walgreens tree — celebrating Christmas and all that it means during Anne Marie’s favorite season.
B.C. Manion is community editor of The Laker/Lutz News, joining the paper in 2010. She writes news and features, takes photographs and edits the work of her colleagues.
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