Christmas Pillows

While my mom was waiting for her radiation and chemotherapy treatments to begin she decided that she needed a project to take her mind off of what was ahead of her. She came up with a plan to make Christmas pillows for all of her children and their families for Christmas. She visited every cloth store in the valley collecting fabric for this major undertaking. Then she cut all the material into little pieces and tried to figure out how to sew the resulting pieces back together into pillows.

My dad always used to give my mom a hard time about this every time she started a project. "Why do you cut it all up and then sew it all back together? Couldn't you just leave it in one piece to start with?" Really. What would be the fun in that?

I arrived at her house 3 weeks into her cancer treatments and toward the tail end of the pillow construction. She and my sister had spent many, many hours sewing and stuffing and stuffing and sewing almost 100 pillows. Some of them had already been delivered and some were waiting in boxes for me to tape and take to the Post Office to be mailed.

I was glad that I could play a small part in this Christmas event and I was able to get all 5 boxes mailed after only one failed attempt. The first time I went to the Post Office was Monday afternoon (December 15th) at about 4:45 PM. There wasn't a single parking spot and the line was weaving out the front door. I decided that one day wouldn't make that big a difference in their delivery time and turned around and went home. When I went back at 10:00 the next morning, I walked right up to the counter. I was glad I had waited and I don't think my mom was too disappointed in me.

Here are some of the pillows that were still around when I arrived.

The woodsman Santas for my sister and her roommate who chose these because they reminded them of their Alaskan cruise that they took this year. I think they shared a few of them with my mom's sister, who has a cabin in the woods that needed some Santas.

The elf set that were made for my family. My sister insisted that mom really needed to use the green pom poms that she found in the sewing closet since they were just the right color and my mom sewed and muttered under her breath to fulfill her wishes. I do think the pom poms are cute. These are the ones that were divided between my girls.

The 3 on the stool were for 3 of the great granddaughters. The bottom one is flannel and oh so soft. It has old fashioned pictures on it that reminded me of the Dick and Jane books that I learned to read out of. The middle one has a really cute snowman on it. We had a hard time coming up with some fabric to go on the edges and back, but it turned out great once we dug deep enough and found the red and black check hiding in the closet. The pillows on the floor are mine. I helped pick out this Mary Englebreit Santa fabric after I arrived, but my mom said she wouldn't be mean and make me stuff my own pillows so she stuffed and sewed them all by herself. I did end up stuffing 13 pillows into the extra suitcase that I brought to Utah to get them home though. I'm sure that counts for something.

I am glad that my mom is willing to deal with life's challenges in a positive and productive way. She isn't going to lay in bed and feel sorry for herself, even though she might have a good excuse to do just that. She is such a good example to her 5 children (and their spouses), 22 grandchildren (and more spouses) and 24 great grandchildren of taking what life gives you and making the best of it. Hopefully we will remember this wonderful attribute she possesses each year when we pull out our Christmas pillows to decorate and brighten our homes. I know I will!

Today I am thankful for

a mom who has always been a good example to me.
a Christmas program at church to remind me why we celebrate Christmas.
a husband who is willing to pick up the slack and fulfill my church callings for me while I am in Utah.