I received beautiful cards, messages and meaningful gifts in our babies' honour from four people (and one lovely soul here on my blog). Memorial charms, gorgeous symbolic earrings, heartfelt words in a card, a donation to SANDS in their honour... to know that these few people understood that Christmas would be a tough day for us made it a little easier to bear.
On the other had I had people asking why we weren't attending family Christmas, choosing instead to spend the day on our own. People asking if we had "a great Christmas" or if we had "enjoyed" our day. Depending who these inquiries came from I was able either to give a short, sweet answer... or just stare in disbelief that they had asked such a thing.
I know there are many others out there who struggle with the loss of a loved one at this time of year, no matter the age they were. For us, it was also the first Christmas without my grandfather who was very much the centre of events at family gatherings, taking the role of Santa to hand out the gifts.
Maybe next year, instead of asking people to remember my babies with me (and being disappointed when they don't) I'll try to ask for people to be gentle with the hearts of all those they know who are missing someone special at Christmas.
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