Disclaimer: I recently went to my parents’ house and spent the day with them and my grandmother. I had been working on a gift to give my grandmother for Christmas and this past weekend I was able to give it to her. We stayed a safe distance away from each other, wore our masks, and I washed my hands multiple times while there. I would also like to mention that these photos are all zoomed in and appears closer than we were. If this post will upset you in any way, please swipe out now.
Back in October shortly after my grandfather passed, I came up with the idea of gifting my grandmother a pillow. It would be a pillow made from one of the many buttoned up shirts my grandfather would wear. Something she could put in the chair he used to sit in, maybe keep her company while she watches tv, or simply to hold on her bad days.
A Beautiful Memory
I’ve seen these pillows on Etsy before but it never crossed my mind as something I would purchase or make myself. It was just something I came across and thought of as a cute gesture – never truly imagining myself gifting it. But the week he passed, this pillow popped into my head and I knew at that moment I wanted it for my grandmother. I had the thought of giving it to her for Christmas – her first one without him in who knows how many years. This way, he’d still technically be with her and that gave me some kind of comfort.
With my mom checking in on my grandmother every so often, I asked her to pick out a few of my grandfather’s shirts. I was going to source the pillows out through Etsy but my mom offered to help instead. She mentioned she already had the pillow stuffing and other things we needed to make it, so I agreed and we set a day in December to work on it.
All my grandfather wore were button up shirts with a pocket and different types of kaki pants. But the buttoned shirts were his thing and making this pillow just seemed so incredibly fitting. The day my mom and I got together to make the pillow, memories of my grandfather kept flooding my mind. It was both emotional and exciting to be able to do this and gift it for my grandmother.
From My Heart to Hers
With a lockdown looming, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to see my grandmother on Christmas. I asked my mom if she could pick up my grandmother and bring her to their house on a Saturday. When the day came, I met them there and we talked and laughed about all kinds of things. Once the afternoon arrived, I figured it was time to give it to her.
I got her a Christmas hat and elf slippers to keep her happy and ease the emotions. At first she was a little confused and didn’t quite understand exactly what it was. After we explained it she looked at me, said thank you, and gave it a big squeeze. The lump in my throat and tears in my eyes were incredibly hard to fight back. Her eyes were sad in that moment and I fought the urge to reach out and give her a hug.
In all the gifts I’ve given in my life, this one is the most special. One that holds the most meaning and the one that truly came from my heart and went straight to hers. Having this day with my grandmother was so very important to me. Under normal circumstances, I probably would have been at her house to visit and check-in multiple times. But because I haven’t been able to, this visit meant the absolute world to me.
I couldn’t think of a better way to end the shittiest year on record than spending it with her and giving her this gift.
Have you ever given a gift that held lots of meaning to it?
You can catch up on yesterday’s blogmas post here!
