Celebration/Memory Tree

As is our tradition every year at my dad's church - they have the ornament ceremony. 

It's always a bit hard because it makes you face your loss head on but it's very beautiful and inspiring too.

This year there were new faces there, some who recently lost their loved one and wanted to honor their memory....and there were those of us that have done this every year.

In the picture below, notice how on the top part of the tree, the lights went out.... Pastor Steve said it beautifully.  He said, that tree is a lot like like our feelings about life after losing our special people, it's still beautiful and wonderful to celebrate and maybe at first glance we didn't even notice that the lights were out, it can still be beautiful.  It represents that there is a darkness in our minds/hearts/holidays that just can't ever fully be lit up again because of the pain of losing what we have lost. 

That is just so true.  This is the perfect symbol to express that sentiment exactly.

 

My mom loved to collect angels so this year we got an angel for my mom and my dad got a butterfly for his mom.  During the service they call each persons name and ring a bell and then that family or person goes up and hangs their ornament on the tree and you can talk about them or not, whatever you want to do.  At one point, Mikayla poked me and with tears in her eyes she says "Mommy this is so sad".... what a darling she is.

 

As we are busy with the hussle and bussle of the season, take a moment to reflect and remember those that have gone before us.  Lets remember the best days we had with them. 

 

I really do miss them....I miss them a lot.