Putting your heart into Christmas.

Hello everyone! I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, everyone who sent me messages and prayed for my Dad. As I had moments or was waiting I would read these and post them. Plus emails and facebook messages etc. It was quite amazing, thank you so much.

On Thursday Dad became very sick very quickly and in the country hospital took a turn for the much worse. This is three hours from a city and they called the air ambulance which is the Royal Flying Doctor.

Almost twenty years ago we went through this when Dad had a massive heart attack. That time the girls were small and we lived in the country. We had the option to see Dad before they put him on the plane and I gave the girls the choice if they wanted to be there or not. I think they were around 9 and 7.
They were both passionately sure they wanted to go and I knew that it might be the last time they saw him. I was quite aware of that.

That time Dad was in hospital a long long time. He wasn't expected to survive and he did, then he had surgery and had a stroke. At the end of all this when he went home they told him if he was very good and lucky he might get five years....

But he went back to life and his ambitions and dreams and works like a 25 year old except I don't know any that can keep up with him. And he will be eighty next year. And all this time since the operation he lives on 50% heart capacity.

Because I was on my own from before Lucy was born Dad was the number one male for the girls. He did all the stuff a Dad does. They love him more like a Dad than a Grand Dad. Dad walked Lucy down the isle at her wedding. So they stick to him like glue.

So here we are almost twenty years later and driving to the air ambulance again only this time meeting it. And the girls are adults. And I think again this may be the last time. It was just the same.
This time he has a massive infection in his system, his body is shutting down, and I am aware of his heart issues, his age.... realistically I know this isn't likely to end well. We didn't speak about this we all just new and there was a lot of crying going on.

The next thing was the air ambulance was delayed. First it would be arriving here at 7 pm. Then that was delayed until 8 pm. This repeated until it landed at 11 pm. These delays did not give me confidence. I knew it meant he wasn't stable enough to fly or some other delay...or worse.

Finally after 11 he arrived at the hospital then we had to wait again while they got him settled. When we got to see him I was semi prepared but not entirely...

It became a get through the night thing, then get through the next day and so on.

If you asked me Thursday or Friday if I thought he could get better I would have said no.

I can only attribute the fact that possibly today he will get out of intensive care into a normal room to all the prayer. I am heading to the hospital to see this with my own eyes.

Thank you to everyone. Thank you. I cannot reply to everyone as I usually do and I am very behind on everything and my emails and correspondence.  I don't think I can hope to catch up.

I am going to attempt to blog this week as I think overall it is best to try and keep life normal ish. So with the help of friends I have some blog posts.

This one I wanted to share is a letter from a wonderful friend. She and Helen are my two friends who love Christmas the most of anyone I know. And when you read this you will see why.
The other extreme is people who say they don't like Christmas. While I get that in hard times and times of loss or loneliness Christmas can be very hard, many people I know who say they don't like Christmas don't DO anything for anyone. So they don't FEEL that Christmas feeling and miss out.
Like anything you reap what you sow. Here is part of the letter from my friend.... (enjoy)
RAOK = random act of kindness.

So I am 'getting ahead' with my things for my Random Acts of Christmas Kindness Advent Calender.  The kids and I enjoyed it so much last year.  This year we have set a budget of $1 per item and that gives us a lot of scope.  As you know we are keen op shoppers and there is such a wealth of new stuff there for under $1.  Hand creams, pretty soaps, decorations.  This year we are steering away from food items so that people aren't suspicious of whether they are poisoned or not.  

With the exception of Tim Tams and Mint Slices.  They are on special for $2 for the really big share packs which I will be stocking up on and taking to the hospital emergency desk for those who will spend Christmas working and looking after people as they come in.  Likewise to the police, fire and ambo stations. 

Today, although you don't know it, I took you shopping with me.  We had great success.  Lots of meat marked down to $5kg for rump steaks, lamb mince, pork loin roasts.  Then a shop had beautiful hexagonal tins with lavender or rose soap inside marked down to $1 each.  So I thought of your lovely satin ribboned soaps with the diamante buckles and had to buy them to replicate that.  There are a couple of houses that I know have elderly ladies living in them and they will be posted anonymously into their letterboxes.  Then the hunt was on....what else could I find for $1 or less?  Coles has some absolutely beautiful decorations at the moment Eight large-ish wood cut ones for $4.....so 50c each.  Lovley as a small RACK or as a present topper. 

Kmart has 30cm long bubble mix tubes with wands inside them to make giant bubbles.  I will be hanging these in playgrounds in poorer areas so that children can find them.  They also had bags of 6 superballs for $2.  They too will be put where children can find them.  And $1 pink fairy wands with a light up star on top that changes colour.  I have some pink tulle fairy wings and am sure that if strategically placed they will make some wee little girl very happy to find them.  

In the op shop I found curtains that I am CERTAIN you would have snaffled for all sorts of repurposing.  Thick heavy linen ones with an antique pattern in blue of lots of old world things.  I ALMOST bought them because the fabric was so sumptuous but I didn't know exactly what I would do with them so left them for someone who would. 

Target had bottles of hot sauces from around teh world that ALMOST made teh $1 rule when you separated them out...but not quite.  But I bought them for chilli loving husband. 

I know there are so many things that I missed.  The kids and I are going to have a ball hunting them out and leaving them for people.  We discussed that we are going to make sure we continue it throughout the new year with at least one planned act.  And of course the situations that just present themselves as you go about your life.  

On a sourish note.....Today I had to explain WHY we show appreciation to teachers.  Apparently we shouldn't as 'it's just their job'.  THAT is the reason it needs to be done right there.  Because there are so many miserly people who don't.  Again I thought of you as one of their justifications was that 'we don't thank teh checkout operators, so why teachers?.  And I know that like me you DO thank the checkout operators and give gifts.   

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas......I'm trying to think of something suitable, to go along with a note for the people who go to so much trouble to really decorate their houses with Christmas lights.  A little appreciation for their efforts.  

So there you have it. SOME of the efforts my friend is going to, to add joy to other peoples Christmas. And right there you have "how to have a wonderful Christmas" instructions.
Yes I do give Christmas presents to check out girls. I have two that I mostly see all year round. Like teachers or any profession they do their job. But they do it with so much patience, kindness and helpfulness and they don't have to. They just have to check out your stuff.  Like the staff at the hospital and the volunteers. I am thinking what we can do for them. They are doing their jobs too. But to a standard money doesn't buy.
In fact with what has been happening in the world, seeing the goodness and kindness that I have the last few days has done me good.

Spreading Christmas love and kindness doesn't have to cost much or anything at all. It could be writing lovely letters of thanks, a little Christmas cooking, acts of service...
Key ingredients are giving to people you don't know from a bar of soap and people you suspect might be having a hard time.  We do different things. Usually I give small things to a lot of people. But one year we knew of someone with nothing and gave them a giant hamper... and it all went on one family. But the possibilities are endless.

Going to the hospital I am going to look for ideas. I am thinking that leaving little presents with a note at the volunteers desks would be one idea. They are amazing! They are so helpful and there is an army of them.

Which leads me to if someone is lonely but fit and able volunteering would be a great act of kindness and make a difference.

Thank you again so much. I hope you have a good week and we can come up with some cunning plans to spread some Christmas joy. Suggestions are good, some of us are better at thinking up things than others and your success stories would also make wonderful reading so please feel free... xxxx