Mum’s display pays tribute to beloved Marie
MUM PUTS ON DISPLAY IN MEMORY OF DAUGHTER SHE LOST
FROM creepy skeletons to scary witches, mum Jayne Stones has adorned her home with some amazing Halloween decorations.
Jayne has become the talk of her neighbourhood thanks to her annual displays and she says she gets great pleasure from seeing the smiles on children’s faces as they come to take a look around.
However, there is a heartbreaking reason why the 50-year-old puts such a special effort into her decorations – it is all in memory of her daughter Marie, who died aged just three.
Little Marie, who was disabled, died after contracting bronchopneumonia two days before Christmas in 1993.
Jayne, of Fallowfeld, Leam Lane, Gateshead, said Marie had not shown any signs of illness the previous night.
She said: “That morning she got up at around 6.30am and said, ‘Mam, mam, mam.’
“I went and cuddled her. She lay back in bed and I went back to my own bed.
“But I knew there was something wrong and I got back out again.
“Marie was lethargic and by 6.45am she was gone. She took her last breath in my arms.” Jayne was left in shock and devastated by her daughter’s death.
“I started hating Christmas,” said Jayne.
“Marie died on December 23 and I spent that Christmas in a chapel of rest. The toys I had bought for my daughter I gave to the hospital.”
Some years went by and Jayne went on to have two more children Callum, who is now nearly 18, and Sophie, 25.
One day Callum asked her why she did not have any decorations during the festive season and that changed her way of thinking.
She said: “Callum must have been around seven or eight, and he asked me, ‘Why don’t we have a tree and Christmas lights like everyone else?’
“And I thought, ‘Why don’t we?’ Because I had hated Christmas so much, I had not put up a tree.
“I decided to get a tree and some lights.
“Then I started to put up more decorations every year and the children loved it. My Christmas decorations grew and grew.
“And then, about three years ago, I started doing it at Halloween as well.
I collected lots of things, even ordering some from America. I have been doing all this in memory of Marie. I think maybe she is looking down on us.
“She herself did not get to enjoy these celebrations. I never got to see the smile on my own daughter’s face but I can now see the smiles on the faces of all the children, and adults, who come to see our house.
“People will come by and say they absolutely love what I’ve done. And that makes me feel good. My heart and my soul goes into putting these decorations up.
“When children see them and are happy, that makes me happy.”
I have been doing all this in memory of Marie. I think maybe she is looking down on us
Jayne Stones