Mom’s Gift. (My Mom’s Alzheimer’s)

Photo by Yana Lysenko on Unsplash

“Christmas Lights!!!”

Mom sits stoically, staring ahead as her great granddaughter yells intermittently from the back seat of the car. The child’s nose is pressed against the window. She is on high alert to make sure she spots and calls out the Christmas lights she sees before any other member of the family can beat her by doing the same.

We are in caravan formation as we head toward the first neighbourhood, on our Christmas Lights Tour. Those of us in the car with the little one, are dreading the intensity of her shouts as we approach the first house on the tour.

“You can’t yell out for any of these lights,” her mother warns.

The child is undaunted. She triumphantly declares that she has now counted over 600 Christmas lights and is well on her way to becoming the undisputed ‘Christmas Lights Queen’ of the family, for two years in a row.

I claim to have 175 Christmas lights counted, but even if it’s true, it is too late to beat my granddaughter at my own game. She is oh so proud to be the star of our family tradition.

The other adults chime in, in varying degrees of mock protest.

‘Oba’ declares she was the true winner of last year’s competition.