Story of Michigan Woman Who Went Viral with Christmas Ornament That Honors Late Husband

Nearly a year after losing her husband of nearly three decades, a middle school teacher from Michigan managed to turn her pain into something beautiful and touched thousands of hearts.

A woman from Twin Lake, Michigan, took to her Facebook profile on December 14, 2020, to share her sweet and crafty tribute to her late husband as she prepares to spend her first Christmas without it.

The post, whose author’s name is Christy Critchett Hester, ended up turning viral, so far been re-post more than 2,500 times, and been featured on different news outlets in the country.

As Critchett wrote in the post, her husband passed away this year, and she wanted to make sure that his presence was still felt during the Holidays, so she found a meaningful and creative way to do it.

Using the eyeglasses that her late husband left behind, Critchet created a Christmas-tree ornament consisting of a snowman, as a way of reminding herself and her family that he is still watching over all of them.

The post included pictures of the eyeglasses and the process of making the commemorative ornament complete with the finished product and the picture of the ornament already hanging from her home’s Christmas tree.

While Critchett’s post enjoyed impressive popularity on its own at first, it was only after she added the pictures to a Facebook group called Rainbows over Michigan that it became a massive viral phenomenon.

"I'm a middle school teacher, and I said to the kids, 'Am I going viral?' I asked what do you guys think is a lot [of likes], and they said 10,000. I said, 'I'm up to 18,000,” an amused Critchet told Good Morning America.

Critchett shared that her late husband’s eyeglasses always sat at their shared bed bedside table, and that she had decided to keep them after he sadly passed away on January 5, at the age of 89.

Critchett’s husband Richard Hester was also survived by the couple’s two children and two grandchildren. He was, as his widow described him, a simple man with a great sense of humor that loved going fishing and reading a book on his boat.

Critchett also revealed that she initially got the idea from one of the many online grief groups she visited to look for support to cope with her loss after 27 years of marriage.

Even though she said that the process of making the ornaments (she made a second one from another pair of eyeglasses that belonged to her late husband) brought many tears, she is now glad to have done it.

Critchett used the opportunity to thank all the people that she has never met for their prayers and condolences, and she said that she planned for the ornaments to be passed on to the next generation of her family.

A STAR IN MOURNING

38-year-old dancer and TV personality Amanda Kloots is also going through her own mourning as she approaches the first Christmas Eve since the passing of her husband of three years, actor Nick Cordero, at age 41, due to COVID-19.

A week ahead of the traditional celebration, Kloots took to her Instagram feed to share a picture of Nick and their son Elvis from last year’s Christmas, cherishing memories that she will never forget.