In 2007, Dad died during the Christmas season. The holidays were extra tough for Mom that year. If you knew Mom and Dad together, you know Dad was always playing jokes on her— always trying to get a rise out of her. She was wise to most of his shenanigans, but they had fun. That year, I wanted to come up with some holiday experience for Mom which was a little Dad-like in its surprise and levity.
It was New Year’s Eve, and Mom was sacked out for the night on our couch at my house in Delta. Mom’s house was uninhabited. I gathered a few props. Quietly, Suzanne and Rowan and I scampered across the yard and snuck in to Mom’s house.
If you were ever in Mom’s living room, you know she had a menagerie of decorative animals and porcelain dolls. She had created the dolls herself.
Anyhoo… With the props I had gathered, we arranged a New Year’s Eve party for Mom’s animals and dolls. Mom would come home in the morning to find what her naughty menagerie had been up to while ringing in the New Year without her.
Our efforts to jolly-up Mom were a success. Dad would’ve been proud. She loved the mess she discovered when she opened her front door. She didn’t want me cleaning up the raucous remains immediately. She wanted people to see it and laugh about it with her, so her living room stayed blitzed for all of New Year’s Day. She cleaned it up herself the next day, before I could get over to her house.
Mom showed up at my front door with a grocery bag full of “bad” party props. A couple of weeks later, she showed up with 1 single cigarette which had somehow been overlooked when she cleaned up the first time. It had apparently been stuck behind one of her doll’s ears in its wig.
Suzanne and Rowan and I are in agreement: BEST. NEW. YEAR’S. EVE. EVER!
