Christmas Past

This beautiful young lady is my mom. She'd kill me if she knew this picture was on my blog, so let's keep it our little secret, ok?? This was taken when I was about two years old. I went shopping for her today, and let me tell you, if you knew my mom, you would know what an impossible chore that is. The woman wants for nothing. Except for maybe coffee and her beloved cigarettes (which nobody can talk her into quitting, been there, almost didn't survive that, lol).

My mom left my paternal father when I was about three months old. He was an alcoholic and she knew that my life (and hers) would be better without him in it. So, my mom has always been a single mom, though she's been married since, it never mattered. If I needed something or someone, it was my mom that I counted on. At Christmas, my mom would go to elaborate measures to make sure I had the best Christmas. On Christmas morning, everything would be wrapped in paper I had never seen before (she'd drive two towns away to try and get paper that was not available where we lived) so that I would have the "santa was here" feeling as I nervously anticipated the treasures that awaited me.

She never asks for anything....never makes nonchalant statements proclaiming that she could really use this or that. So, I'm stuck. In previous years, I've made her something or wrote her poem and had it framed, but this year I feel as if I just can't figure it out. I guess it's back to the drawing board and different stores tomorrow so that I can walk up and down each aisle and wonder if the stuff I'm looking at is anything she wants, lol. I know that there is nothing I can do to make any Christmas as special as the Christmas Past she's given me, but I'd sure like to try....if only I knew where to start.