In Memory
On her last visit home from Boston, one of my two sisters dug up from my parents' basement boxes and boxes of leftover styrofoam balls, pins, felt, beads, sequins, and ribbons with which our grandmother -- our mother's mother, the only grandparent my three siblings and I really knew -- taught us how to make Christmas ornaments when we were little. My sister also turned up a large boxful of the handmade ornaments themselves, which we'd never really used on our Christmas trees for some reason -- perhaps because they're fairly large and would be hard to hang on anything but the sturdiest branches.
Nanny -- who suffered from dementia in the final years of her life and died 18 years ago in her nineties -- was a seamstress who had an amazingly creative way with needle, thread, cloth, yarn, you name it. My sister thought it would be fun to have an ornament-making day this Christmas, using mostly the same materials we'd used with Nanny 35 to 40 years ago. Today we did it.
My 87-year-old mother's memory and other cognitive abilities are failing more and more. She used to be a seamstress, knitter, embroiderer, you name it, herself -- not to mention a gourmet cook, baker, Latin teacher, and polyglot. My sister had Mom's involvement and enjoyment foremost in mind, and she wasn't disappointed; my mother had a great time. But whenever Nanny's name comes up, as it did today, my mother gets a little teary and says, "I wish she were here."
Here's the ornament I made:
Nanny -- who suffered from dementia in the final years of her life and died 18 years ago in her nineties -- was a seamstress who had an amazingly creative way with needle, thread, cloth, yarn, you name it. My sister thought it would be fun to have an ornament-making day this Christmas, using mostly the same materials we'd used with Nanny 35 to 40 years ago. Today we did it.
My 87-year-old mother's memory and other cognitive abilities are failing more and more. She used to be a seamstress, knitter, embroiderer, you name it, herself -- not to mention a gourmet cook, baker, Latin teacher, and polyglot. My sister had Mom's involvement and enjoyment foremost in mind, and she wasn't disappointed; my mother had a great time. But whenever Nanny's name comes up, as it did today, my mother gets a little teary and says, "I wish she were here."
Here's the ornament I made:
posted by Billy at 10:34 PM
8 Comments:
My mom used to have a bunch of ornaments like that that my grandmother made. They are quite heavy. I don't think we ever used them.
I wonder if trees were sturdier back then?
Oooh. Cooper's comment reminded me of something I say in Southern Living Christmas 2006. You could hang the ornaments from different lengths of ribbon and turn them into window decorations!
Er... that would be "saw" not "say."
Ohh, my mother made a bunch of those too. That picture really takes me back. The balls were wrapped in some kind of thin crepe-like ribbom to cover the styrofoam, and then the velvet ribbon and pins over top. My mom was/is a seamstress as well... into her 70's now.
We did hang them on the tree, and I remember we tended to get the trees with the shorter bluish needles and pretty stiff branches (and the needles would prick you when you put the ornaments on). The problem was that the ribbon loop always seemed too small to get over the branch without multiple stabbings, so we finally attached metal hooks to the top of the ribbon.
I like the glass bowl and window decoration ideas though... and I guess the sun won't fade them over just a few winter days.
i make the same sort of ornaments with my grandmother too
j
that would be "made"
not "make"
muchless
"maid"
is it somethingin the air?
j
It is lovely that you found something your mother enjoyed doing that connected all of you with each other and your past. I like your capturing the way you miss her as she misses her mother.
And your ornament is beautiful.
i want to learn to make those ornaments!
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