A Baby's Birth and Death, and Christmas (Again!)
It was our son Thomas’ birthday on Sunday. The next day was his death day. We’ve been remembering these two days for the last 15 years. Yes, Thomas would have been 15 if he hadn’t died as a baby.
I’ve been thinking about that. We’d have had another teenager in the family. Thomas probably would have been far taller than me by now. I wonder what colour his hair would have been. Who would he have looked like? What would he have been interested in?
Each year, I usually write a Thomas story as I look back on his birth and death and remember. I didn’t want to do that this year. I didn’t want to immerse myself in the sorrow and then invite sympathy from kind friends. I wanted to avoid the pain.
Then a couple of days ago, I decided I wanted to mark the occasion of Thomas’ birthday in some way after all. So I spoke about his birthday and death day in a podcast.
I pondered the question: How do we homeschool when we are facing a huge crisis such as a death in the family? What did we do when Thomas died?
I also talked about the difficulties of facing that first Christmas without our son. I just did not want to celebrate when my heart was so heavy.
It seems at first glance that grief and Christmas do not go together. But I’m wondering if perhaps they aren’t so far apart after all. I share some thoughts on why I think Christmas is actually a season for the broken-hearted.
I end my podcast on a lighter note, returning to the subject of a simple Christmas.
Show Notes
Blog posts about Thomas
These can all be found on my blog, Wholy Souly.
Blog posts about grief and Christmas
Blog posts about unschooling during family crises
Kelly Casanova – Textile and Fibre Artist
Blog: Kelly Casanova
Facebook page: Kelly Casanova – Weaver, Teacher, Maker
Christmas gift shoe box donations
I hope you will listen to my podcast, regardless of whether you have lost a child. We all have ups and downs we have to deal with. They are part of life and we learn from them all.