AlexSandra Lett "Lett's Set a Spell"

Lett’s Set a Spell: Mama’s Last Christmas

On Christmas Day 2004 I awoke early in my parents’ farmhouse, went to Mama’s bedroom, and watched her sleeping peacefully. This was Mama’s first Christmas without Daddy, and she didn’t understand his absence. Shortly after his death we discovered it was easier to hide the truth than upset Mama when she asked where Daddy was. White lies now rolled off my tongue effortlessly: “Mama, Daddy is walking at the new ground” ... “Bud is helping Wayne cut wood” ... “Daddy has gone fishing with Bud Holt.”

During the Christmas Eve celebration Mama didn’t even realize the significance of the holiday and begged everyone to take her home. Finally, her grandson Wayne and his wife Emily drove her around for a while and brought her back to the homeplace like she had been gone for hours. She was pacified and sat quietly with me in the kitchen until the gas stove went out. I called a neighbor, Tillman Howard, late that night to fix the furnace. Like many others who had pitched in to help Mama and Daddy for the past few years Tillman didn’t mind. Folks were glad to do a favor for a couple who had given so much to family, friends, church, and community.

On Christmas morning 2004 as Mama and I sat by the warm heater. I suggested we go visit her grandsons’ families on the farm. Mama was moving very slowly, so it was tedious to put on her clothes and get her body in the car to travel next door. When we arrived at Wayne and Emily’s house, I commented, “Never has so much effort been spent to get one woman dressed and in a car.”

It was hard to believe I was talking about the Ruby K. Lett who had always worked circles around us, who got up early to prepare a big breakfast, cooked hours every day, labored on the farm, sewed clothes, did laundry and ironing, directed Christmas programs, balanced church books, and kept everyone else on their toes. Old age had robbed our family of its energetic matriarch.

When we visited with her great-grandchildren, Chelsy, Jared, and Joshua, Mama smiled. Later we drove over to see another grandson, Billy, his wife Kim, and their daughter, Tyler. Soon we returned home and welcomed company. This was Mama’s last Christmas Day without Daddy.

As the months passed, family and caregivers doted on Mama, but she could not find contentment without Daddy. Taking care of Mama around the clock was difficult but we rarely complained because we remembered that Mama had always been there when we needed her. In early June Mama suffered a heart attack and went quickly ... she had gradually died of a broken heart.

This is our family’s first Christmas without Mama, and while I miss her, I know she is happy in her heavenly home, again holding hands with Daddy. Now Mama and Daddy, surrounded by angels, are resting tenderly in the arms of the Christ they loved so much. What more could I want for Christmas?