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12/01/2014

Cyber Monday. If you are living under a rock somewhere you may not know what I am talking about. Don't feel bad, I did not know what it was till a couple of years ago.  The Monday after Black Friday is suppose to be the biggest shopping online day of the year. Last year *2.29 billion dollars was spent on Cyber Monday. I know that Black Friday is the unofficial start of the holiday shopping. I don't know how to tell you all this but I have been listening to Holiday music since before Halloween. Plus the Holiday decoration have been up in the major retail stores since before Halloween.

Since Alzheimer has moved into our house, 4 years ago, I have been struggling to have a happy holiday. JW sometimes doesn't even know where he is. I'm sure that he has no clue what Cyber Monday is. JW was very good on the computer before he was diagnosed. He could shop with the best of them. As long as he had his credit card he was good to go. We should have realized when he started buying the same items over and over that there was something wrong. He would buy air brush after air brush and when we asked him how may air brushes did his art studio need he would get upset.  Tell us he was the artist and to butt out.  After all, he knew what he was doing.

I have to admit I do a lot of shopping online. I get extremely hostile if I have to go to any store during the holiday season. People are in horrible moods and speed through the parking lots. Heaven help you if you stop while in an isle because someone will cuss you out for being rude and not moving faster to get out of their way. One lady even accused be of trying to run over her lovely running child in an isle because when I came around the corner her precious little one ran full speed into the front of my shopping cart. I believe I ranted all the way home after that episode.  I found that if I take JW with me and put him in his wheelchair everyone in the whole darn store will bend over backwards and kiss their own backside to be nice to you. He loves to go to the grocery store with me.  I haven't attempted it lately though due to his legs not working so good.

The Holiday season is suppose to be about family and friends sharing a meal or spending time together. We had our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday with my son and his family. This year JW stayed downstairs with Mother and we ate upstairs. The children decided to stay upstairs and eat with us. I must admit it was a good choice even if I had hoped we could all eat together. We all went downstairs to say grace before we started to eat. I could not even speak. When Al moves in with you the negative thoughts start to crowd your brain. I kept worrying about how my 10 year old grandson would react to Granpa Blue Jay as his health deteriorates. I should have known that he would react way above what I had feared.  He stayed downstairs and entertained JW while James put the final touches on dinner. Mother came upstairs and put their dinner together on platters and we carried the food downstairs for them. After we had finished eating we took the ice cream cake out of the freezer downstairs (because JW slept through his birthday on 11/08) stuck a candle in it and sang happy birthday. My kids are amazing. They sat and watched a television show with JW and visited with Mother for at least 45 minutes. My grandson Zack continued to do silly little tricks for his great grandfather and pay every bit of attention to him for the entire time.  I had to admit that without the noise and confusion of a full blown holiday dinner taking place in my parents apartment kept JW calm.

This is what holidays are suppose to be. Slow down. Pay attention to your family. Hug your kids if you are blessed to have them. Go to Burger King (tm) and buy a bag full of food and give it to a homeless person. For me, sit on the little stool by JW's recliner and hold his hand. Thank my higher power that I still have the container that holds his soul. Al may be living here but my family is going to give him a good fight.

So, as the holiday season begins I wish you luck with all your planned endeavors. Please try not to run yourself ragged. Stay calm and remember, it will all be over in 23 days.

*obtained from Internet Retailer.