Christmas magic and a little music can make the season bright, wherever you are

Life hasn’t been the same since my mother stopped coming to our house.

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It’s not that she doesn’t want to come anymore, but that her condition simply doesn’t allow it.

Her arthritic knees can’t handle the stairs, she hates going out in the cold, she becomes disoriented by the change of scene, and just generally prefers to stay put at the retirement home where she lives.

This new reality set in 2021 when we delivered her, all out of sorts, back to her home after Christmas dinner at our house.

A kind nurse told me then that while she understood I would feel neglectful if I didn’t have Mom over for Christmas, I would actually be doing her a kindness by letting her stay in familiar surroundings and visiting her there.

It’s advice I heeded — grudgingly; guiltily.

Christmas is not the same without my parents, not since my father died and my mother has........

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