A Christmas Card from Amanda

So this is Christmas?

 

This is what I might write – if I could write.  Or, perhaps, what I would say, if I could speak.  But, things are what they are and I hope you are well.  As some may know, I have something called Semantic Dementia, and I am not as well as I was.....  At the beginning of lockdown, I wrote a lot of cards, cutting and pasting and making lovely Christmas (and Birthday) cards for some of my oldest friends, and I did this for every year, up to 2029....  then I ran out of something, I don’t know what.  So, sorry if you don’t hear from me personally in the post.....

 

I just want to wish everyone lots of happy times.  It is cold today, and crispy, and perhaps we will have sprinkles and icicles coming, but I am warm inside my home......  It isn’t the same as where I was last Christmas, but there are more people around me, and they are kind, and I have food and I am warm.....  

 

Sometimes people come to see me, and take me out.  Thank you, Jane, and Adam, and Amanda.  It is lovely to have music and to see people around.  And I love having cups of tea......

 

And Dad comes to see me, and he gives me breakfast and takes me out.  We go to Hunstanton, or Sandringham, or Holm or Thornham, where we used to walk – but I cannot walk much now.  I had to go to hospital some time ago, and I was in the ambulance for a long long time before they took me to the Stroke Ward (though they didn’t stroke me?  - see, I haven’t entirely lost a sense of humour!)  Then I went back to the home and I now go about in a wheeled chair most of the time.

Dad takes pictures – lots of them.  We have albums of our memories – even if I cannot remember them.  But I recognise somethings.  Our cats, lovely Meadow:  

and Mr White and Denmark:

And I loved our walks, sometimes early, sometimes late.  I loved the geese, honking overhead as they came and went:

  

And the pigs in the woods on Lodge Hill:

And the village, with the turning seasons.  Christmas lights and dark nights:

 

I wish I could see you.  I wish I could speak.  I wish I could walk.  But I know that God is looking after me, so you mustn’t worry.  Our daughters come to see me when they can, and it is so good to see them, they are lovely, and we are all having happy times......

 

Some people write long pieces about how the year has been, and about their latest grandchildren and their dogs (and their sciatica, Ed), but we don’t have them and I cannot remember yesterday, never mind last year.  Although I know where I was and where I still go.  I love the Christmas lights and the Church and I know that everlasting arms are beneath, around, above – God it is who bears us on, His, the arms we lean upon.  The joy that none can take away, is ours.  We walk with love today....

 

Try not to feel sad, but happy and grateful for all we’ve shared and learned together and know that God is always guiding and taking care of everyone and showing everyone where to go at the right time and sending love......

 

Happy Christmas, and Many, Many Happy New Years!

So this is Christmas

And what have you done

Another year over

And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas

I hope you have fun

The near and the dear ones

The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas

And a Happy New Year

Let's hope it's a good one

Without any fear

John Lennon