My dad has always said I’m like my grandma. I share both her wonderful strengths and not-so-flattering characteristics. She was hard working, driven, lived life to the fullest and always went after what she wanted with fierceness and intensity. And yet, she could be a stubborn perfectionist with a fiery temper. Ah yes, that sounds familiar. We have the same freckles, short fuse and honest directness.

My grandma passed away on Christmas night.

I know it seems like this should be a sad story, but in fact, it is a very happy one.

We had one of the best Christmases we’ve ever had. My family and Mr. rUnladylike’s family spend Christmas together, but it was the first Christmas my grandma was unable to leave the nursing home to join us. She was with us for Thanksgiving but couldn’t muster the strength to come for Christmas.

Before the day’s festivities, we all went to see her and spend time with her at the nursing home. She opened her presents. She laughed. We wore crazy Christmas lights from Disney that made everyone smile. I told her I would bring her food from our Christmas meal and that I’d see her later that weekend. We all hugged her several times and posed for pictures. It was a wonderful visit. She was happy.

We left her with kisses and goodbyes as we headed to my sister-in-law’s house. We had an incredible dinner, festive drinks, a white elephant gift exchange and even dancing. We laughed until our cheeks hurt, recruited neighborhood kids to take crazy group photos and were so grateful for this wonderful life we have.

As we were leaving, unbeknownst to us, my grandma passed away. My dad got the call around 10:30 p.m. It was hard to believe that we had just been with her. She fell asleep and never woke up after eating two Christmas petits fours we brought her and watching the news. The nurse said she took one final breath and died peacefully.

It was a good last day.

Today, I went for a run and thought about my grandma.

I thought about all the days as a little girl I spent at her house. We had sleepovers constantly and, at my request, she would make me macaroni and cheese and green beans for every meal. When I was in elementary school, she operated a home health business where she cared for several elderly people in her home. I would play cards with all of them – Gin Rummy, Pennies from Heaven, Canasta. Can you just picture me at age 7 sitting around a table with a group of 80-year-olds playing cards? I loved it.

She loved taking me shopping and was always going behind my mom’s back to shower me with gifts. My mom wanted me to learn that we don’t get everything we want and getting new things was special. Grandma decided I would get whatever she wanted to get me. That was her … she did what she wanted when she wanted and how she wanted.

My grandma loved fancy things. She loved when we dressed up in pretty clothes. She had more dresses, pant suits and stilettos than could fit in a normal human being’s closet when she was younger. Expensive paintings adorned the walls of her home. She bought me a set of sterling silver silverware for my sixth birthday … because that’s what every kindergartener needs and wants, right? We have inherited a set of Lenox china for every possible occasion, because she always loved having fancy table settings.

In the end, she didn’t have any of those things. She had some floral print bed gowns and was excited to receive a pair of memory foam slippers for Christmas she opened just hours before she said goodbye to this world. She had pictures of all of us on a bulletin board by her bed. She had a silver cross she wore around her neck.

She left knowing that she loved her family and we loved her. After seven years in a nursing home with a quality of life that none of us hope to have, I’m grateful that she has gone on to a bigger and better party. I’m sure she’s wearing a fancy dress and fancy jewelry, watching down on us with a big grin, a cocktail and a lot of pride.

Every Christmas, we will celebrate my grandma – “Kitty” as all her friends called her. And every day, I’ll proudly accept our similarities – both the good and the bad. She was a fighter. I am a fighter.

“She called herself an angel, and wandered the world from girlhood till death. She lived every kind of life and dreamt every kind of dream. She was wild in her wandering, a drop of free water. She believed only in her life and in her dreams. She called herself an angel, and her god was Beauty.” ~Roman Payne

Wishing you and your family a great rest of 2015 and a hopeful and wonderful year ahead. xo