SOUTHAMPTON — Before Joyce Mase celebrated her merriest Christmas, she endured her greatest heartbreak.
On Oct. 10, 1991, Mase gave birth to her first daughter, Shelby. She was born still on Mase’s due date, leaving Mase and her husband Laurence Mase in unimaginable grief. As Mase described it, there was “no Christmas spirit” in their home that year, only an single empty stocking Mase has cross-stitched for her daughter.
“She (Shelby) was going to be the one and only,” Mase remembers. “They said we could try again in three months and we got pregnant immediately.”
Almost a year later to the date, Mase had her second daughter. It was a tough delivery, but Carolyn came into the world on Oct. 7, 1992. Filled with joy once again, Mase donated to the Sidney F. Smith Toy fund in Shelby’s honor.
“We think about her (Shelby) a lot,” Mase said. “Giving to children that are less fortunate (in Shelby’s memory) is something that I’ve been doing ever since.”
Named after a former business manager at the Gazette, the Toy Fund began in 1933 to help families in need during the Depression. Today, the fund distributes vouchers worth $65 to qualifying families for each child from age 1 to 14.
A year and a half after Carolyn was born, Mase wanted one more little one running around her home. The couple was working full time at Bay State Medical Center, raising a toddler in their late 30s. Laurence was content with one young mouth to feed, but eventually Mase convinced him.
“I told my husband, ‘If we don’t, Carolyn will be an only child taking care of two elderly parents when she’s old,'” Mase said through giggles.
Mase’s third daughter Meredith was born on Oct. 8, 1996. All three of Mase girls have birthdays within four days of each other. Typically, Meredith and Carolyn celebrate with one large party at the house, a pool or even the Holyoke Children’s Museum.
In fact, holidays in the Mase family home were always a “big bash,” and Christmas was no exception. Mase said she decorated from “top to bottom,” piled the presents under the tree and left cookies and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer. The family’s Dec. 25 celebration depended on Mase’s schedule at Bay State, but usually involved opening gifts, filming home videos and eating a big breakfast of pancakes and popovers.
Despite her physical absence, Mase continued to honor Shelby each year. Part of that traditional began with a simple conversation. Carolyn and Meredith learned about Shelby at a young age.
“We didn’t wait until the girls were older,” Mase said. “They didn’t get it, but we did talk about her.”
In 2009, the Mases placed a memorial stone around the Christmas Box Angel statue in Easthampton’s John Bator Park. Easthampton residents Nancy and Robert MacDonald spearheaded the efforts to install the statue and memorial bricks in 2001 after losing their son David in a car accident. The statue is a reference to the book “The Christmas Box,” where a woman mourns the loss of her child at the base of an angel monument.
Angel park on Williston Avenue has served as a place of mourning and healing for families who lost their children ever since. A candlelight vigil is held on the first Sunday of December for families who lost their children.
The Mases attended the vigil for many years. Even after they stopped attending, Mase retired from Bay State to focus on artisan work and her two daughters moved out of the house, the Toy Fund donations continued.
“I believe that every child should receive a gift and believe in the magic of Christmas,” Mase wrote in an email.
To be eligible for the Toy Fund, families must live in any Hampshire County community except Ware, or in the southern Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Shutesbury and Leverett, and in Holyoke in Hampden County.
The following stores are participating this year: A2Z Science and Learning Store, 57 King St., Northampton; Blue Marble/Little Blue, 150 Main St., Level 1, Northampton; High Five Books, 141 N. Main St., Florence; The Toy Box, 201 N. Pleasant St., Amherst; Comics N More, 64 Cottage St., Easthampton; Once Upon A Child,1458 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Plato’s Closet, 1472 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, 227 Russell St., Hadley; Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St., Village Commons, South Hadley; The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 W. Bay Road, Amherst; Holyoke Sporting Goods Co., and 1584 Dwight St. No. 1, Holyoke.