Dad is still a kid at heart. Now that Spooky Day is over, he wants to personally clear the decorations.
“Clear”.
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The Last Spooky Candy
Gram has the good candy, too. And you know I can’t resist them.
Family Time by the Chimney
Because Gram’s backyard is beautiful, but it’s also really cold this time of year. Cléo has a gift for our great-grandmother, something she found in a box of old things, that they had made together when she was a toddler.
By the crackling fire in the chimney, we all chat and laugh, and I swear it feels like there’s a spirit watching over us. It feels like my grandmas are with us.
I’m just making the most of this moment. I know I have to leave soon, for a trip to Selvadorada I did not plan, and for the first time, I’m not happy about it. So at the moment, I’m gathering forces.
Spooky Surroundings
Cléo goes wandering in Gram’s garden. Gram is not a fan of greenhouses even in her own home, so the view is sort of spooky. But pretty.
On the other hand, Cyril found a few live plants, and after asking Gram, takes a few seeds to plant “as soon as he can”.
I have a feeling the minute I move out of the house, the twins are gonna turn my poolhouse into an inside garden.
Spooky Surroundings
Cléo goes wandering in Gram’s garden. Gram is not a fan of greenhouses even in her own home, so the view is sort of spooky. But pretty.
On the other hand, Cyril found a few live plants, and after asking Gram, takes a few seeds to plant “as soon as he can”.
I have a feeling the minute I move out of the house, the twins are gonna turn my poolhouse into an inside garden.
Cleaning the Tombs
The candles and the flowers are pretty — but part of honoring our ancestors is ensuring they can rest in a clean, spotless place. Cléo volunteers to rake the dead leaves away.
Paying Respects
Elders Day is about the celebration of family, and the lives of those before us. It’s not an inherently sad day.
But in front of the tomb of my grandmothers, it’s hard to keep the tears in. So Mom and I don’t try.
The Graveyard
Before she left this morning, Gram made sure the graveyard was ready for the day. She placed the candles and the flowers, and we are only adding our own now.
I’m a bit puzzled as to how the candles can be lit when we arrive. If Gram had lit them before she left, wouldn’t they have melted entirely by now? And why would she have lit them without us? But I push the thought away. In any case the results are beautiful. Aunt Miranda and I, in particular, are mesmerized.
Gram’s House
On the night of Elders Day, we want to pay our respects to my grandmothers, and to Gram’s late husbands. All four of them are buried at the family home in Brindleton Bay.
It’s still very much in the spirit of Halloween. We’ll have to think to help her clear the decorations, but for tonight it’s perfect. The more candles, the happier the Elders Day.
Conversations Around the Table
We don’t get to be together, all eight of us, that often, so we enjoy spending that time to talk and laugh, and exchange life updates and confidences. It makes me happy to see Cyril bond with Gram. Even Cléo looks like she has cheered up now.
The afternoon has already well rolled in when Gram gets up, the first of us to give in to the appeal of the nap. She’s getting my bed in the pool house, where it’s quiet and comfortable, Mom and Dad are napping upstairs, the kids are sharing a bed, Miranda is in Cléo’s room, and it leaves Dad and I, together in the living room, half-watching a comedy, half dozing off on the couch.
Tonight, we’re all heading to Gram’s together to pay our respects to my grandmothers and great-grandfathers, but for now… we enjoy the comfy atmosphere of a sleepy house.
The Stewarts Family (and other shenanigans) 