A Last Christmas

Hands down, I know this is my all time favourite- Christmas of 2005. It was the last Christmas that I was together with my mum and dad. Mum would pass away in January 2006. It was the last time my home was the way I loved so very much.

It was a hard decision to come home that Christmas. I’d gone to the UK for my best friend’s wedding. She’d not had the best run in relationships till then. Then she met her beau and now (still!) husband. They planned their wedding for December 2005 and I was her bridesmaid. It’d been exciting planning for the trip but as time came, I just felt a heaviness that I couldn’t explain and almost didn’t want to go.

Am glad I went. It was a beautiful wedding and they were so happy. I was, however, ready to go home. I must’ve spent ages on the phone, but was finally able to get a flight that would get me home on Christmas Eve. I think my best friend was shocked at my sudden upheaval and I couldn’t explain the need to just up and leave. Part of me thought we’d no longer be friends.

My father and my mother were overjoyed when I rocked up that Christmas Eve. The three of us spent absolute ages chatting into the middle of the night as was our usual over the holiday season. I felt the strength of what it meant to be exactly where I was supposed to be – with the people who loved me the most in the world.

I no longer have either of them with me. The memories I have are beautiful, and I am thankful to God for His graces. Had He not put it in my heart to get back, I’d not have our last Christmas in the way I now do.