Unseen guests at Christmas
My daughter in law, Alli, was concerned about my husband, Jim, and me before Christmas. She knew that we were really missing his mother, who died last summer, as well as his sister who died a few months before that.
Grief feels more intense at Christmas, because of the memories of other Christmases, and because well loved traditions simply have to change when the people who used to participate in them are no longer here.
As well, Christmas is a ‘loaded’ time, when it’s supposed to be all cheerfulness and lah lah lah-ing. If you are grieving the death of someone that you loved a lot, it can feel like there is emptiness and a large hole where that person ought to be.
So, Alli decided to make a gift that would make us feel that Mum and Patty were present at Christmas, in more than spirit.
Alli has recently taken up crochet and spool knitting, and is a natural with them both.
So, she thought about the image she wanted to create for us, and came up with the enchanting spool knitted heart, with crocheted portraits of Mum and Patty on it.
It fits beautifully inside the wonderful yoyo wreath that my daughter, Chloe made for us. The wreath looks like a circle of love around them.
Every time I walk past the Nanna/Patty heart, it makes me smile. It’s such a loving, and tender way of holding loved ones in our hearts. It’s a visual metaphor that reminds us that we carry them in our hearts, and even more important, we feel them here with us, as unseen guests.
When we are grieving the deaths of loved ones, it feels vital to have reminders that the relationship with our loved ones has changed, but the loving connection still remains.
I just heard James Taylor singing: ‘Shower the ones you love with love’……..
Those showers of love continue to resonate in our hearts, long after the ones we love have moved on into other stages of their journeys. And it’s good to remind ourselves of that… how lovely and loving a gift our daughter in law gave us. It feels like a shower of love.
I hope that you are showering the ones you love with love and are being showered with love! If you are missing someone, perhaps there is a way of making yourself a reminder of how they remain ‘unseen guests’ in your heart, and at your hearth.
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POSTED IN: spool knitter & spoolknitter, spool knitting and spoolknitting
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