My father died from cancer at 12:09 a.m., in the early hours of December 24, 2005 (Christmas Eve).   Since my dad's death my mother has had serious financial problems because his life insurance wasn't payable due to a technicality, and her own job didn't give her a pension.  She tried to fight the life insurance company in the first few years after dad's death, but gave up.  She was considering putting their house up for sale and she was also very stressed because it was Christmas (the anniversary of his death, and a lonely time of year to face the holidays on her own).   They had owned the house for 30 years and she was very upset about losing it.

I had my experience exactly nine years later, in the early hours of December 24, 2014, which is when he had died.  I had gone to bed just before midnight on Dec. 23 but I woke up around 1:00 am on Dec. 24 from a very 'real' dream about my dad.

In the dream I was at my parents' house and it was the night between December 23 and Christmas Eve (as it was in real life).  My mom, my kids and the rest of my family were there;  dressed nicely and gathered by the Christmas tree, relaxing and watching the fireplace.  I needed to go to the bathroom quite urgently.  I ran through the house to a washroom but when I opened the bathroom door, my dad was there fixing the toilet.  He was sitting on the floor looking like he always did, but wearing messy work clothes and using a toolbox.  There were tools everywhere (screwdrivers and rags, etc.) and his hands were covered in grease. He was loosening the bolts on the toilet and scooping dirty water out of the toilet to repair or replace it from the floor.   The bathroom smelled like poop and it was very messy.  I don't recall being surprised to see my dad because it seemed very real and natural for him to be there, but I wanted him to clean up and join us at the Christmas tree  and I really wanted to use the washroom!  LOL

I told him I needed to use the washroom and I rushed to the next bathroom.  Even though I never passed him in the hallway, he was there in the next bathroom when I arrived.  Again, he was sitting on the floor of the next bathroom with a toolbox, scooping 'poop' out of the toilet and saying that he needed to fix it.  This continued throughout every washroom in my mom's house, no matter where I went.  I think there were even 'make believe' bathrooms where my dad would always be sitting on the floor trying to clean up the poop and install a new toilet.

I kept saying 'Dad!  What are you doing??  It's Christmas Eve!  Get cleaned up and join us by the fireplace!  We want you with us for Christmas!  Don't ruin Christmas! Fix the toilet later!   Please leave it for later and let me use one of the  toilets!!!'   Every time I said this, my dad was insistent that he had to keep working to help my mom.  In every washroom he said  'Don't worry.  There's nothing to worry about.  I'll be with you all for Christmas, but first I have to clean up all this shit for your mother. I have to fix this mess.  Just let me clean up this mess and then I will join you all for Christmas.  Don't worry; it will all be OK'.

I woke up around 1:00 a.m. laughing and thinking it was a very bizarre (yet realistic) dream.  I was sad that I wouldn't be seeing him for Christmas, after all.

Around 7:00 a.m. (6 hours later), my mom phoned me and said that she had 'seen' my dad during the night.  She wasn't sure if it was a dream or an apparition.  He told her that he would be there with her for Christmas and not to worry about anything.  There were no toilets, but he assured her not to worry about anything because he would be with her for Christmas.   I told her my dream and we were surprised at how similar our experiences had been.  She was very sad that he wouldn't really be there, and that she would still need to sell the house because of financial matters.  When she hung up I could tell she was crying sad and lonely tears.

About two hours later (9:30 am on Christmas Eve), my mom phoned me again.  This time she was elated.  She was so happy she was crying tears of joy.  My dad's insurance company had phoned her and said that they had finally approved my dad's claim.  One of their laws had changed, effective that morning.  She suddenly received a HUGE settlement, plus retroactive payments, right then on the anniversary of dad's death.  The agent told her 'Don't sell your house. Your financial MESS is all sorted out!!!  Merry Christmas!  You must have a guardian angel!!!'

My dream suddenly made sense.  In my dream, dad was in the process of 'fixing the mess' and 'cleaning up all this shit' at mom's house … The mess / shit was a metaphor for mom's insurance nightmare and financial problem!!!  Within 8 hours of my dream the problem was solved, almost by magic, right on Christmas Eve.  It was a Christmas miracle from my dad, allowing mom's insurance problem to get fixed so we could enjoy Christmas.   We feel like my dad was definitely there with us for Christmas Day, protecting the house and acting as our guardian angel. 

Mom got her payments and everything has been like a dream since that day.

All of her toilets are fine LOLLLL

Was the experience difficult to express in words?     No  

Did you ONLY sense an awareness of presence of the deceased without actually seeing, hearing, feeling or smelling them? Yes 

Did you hear the deceased or hear something associated with the deceased?   Yes   

Describe what you heard, how clearly you heard it and what was communicated:     My dad told me that he needed to fix my mom's 'mess' and clean up all this 'shit' for my mom, so that we could have a happy Christmas.   He said he would enjoy Christmas with us after fixing the problem.  He spoke normally with his mouth like characters do in dreams.  

Did the voice or sound seem to originate externally or outside of you, inside you, or did you not hear a voice or sound, but had a sense of knowing what was communicated?   External like in a normal dream (speaking and hearing). 

If you heard a voice or sound, was it similar or dissimilar from the voice or sound the deceased made when they were alive?     His voice was entirely real.     

Is there any possibility what you heard was from any other source present in the surroundings at the time of your experience?   No.  

Was there any possible impairment to your hearing at the time of the experience?   No.

Did you feel a touch or experience any physical contact from the deceased?   No                   

Did you see the deceased?   Yes    He was wearing his loose dark, dirty work pants like a plumber would wear, with old paint stains on them. He was covered in grease and poop and working on the toilet.  He had a toolbox on the floor.  His hair was a bit

sweaty looking, like he had been hard at work.  I think he was wearing one of the worn out, dirty white tank top style undershirts that he often wore when doing messy work.   During his life he did a lot of physical / mechanical work and often dressed like this if it was a dirty job.

How clearly did the deceased appear?   Completely human and normal.

How much of the deceased did you see?    All.  Sounds funny, but I even saw a bit of the top of his butt crack when he leaned over to undo the toilet bolts.  LOL.

Did the deceased appear or not appear to be the age at which they died?   He was the age of his death, looking like he normally did prior to the chemotherapy.

How healthy did the deceased appear to be?    Totally normal looking.  At the end of his life (the last month) he looked very ill from cancer and chemo.  In my dream he didn't have the cancer appearance but he looked the way he had looked just months prior to dying.

Is there any possibility what you saw was from any other source present in the surroundings at the time of your experience?    No.  It was a dream, but I believe he orchestrated the dream as a way to reassure me that he was going to fix my mom's problems.

Did you smell a distinct smell, scent, fragrance or odor associated with the deceased?    Yes

What smell, scent, fragrance or odor did you smell?    He had a grease smell from the toolbox and a bit of sweaty / BO  smell from working.  The bathrooms smelled like poop because he was cleaning all the dirty water out of toilets.

Was the smell, scent, fragrance or odor familiar?    The grease smell was realistic.  The bathroom. Well, maybe a bit of overkill. lol

Was anything communicated by the smell?    He was very realistic of how a man would smell while doing physical labor.

Is there any possibility that the smell, scent, fragrance or odor was from any other source present in the surroundings at the time of your experience?    No. I was asleep.

Could you sense the emotions or mood of the deceased?   Yes     My dad was very insistent and determined that he would fix my mom's problems in time for Christmas, and then he would join us to celebrate.  I could feel the love he still had for her, because of his

determination and dedication at trying to fix the 'mess' and clean up her problems which he called 'shit'.

Did the deceased give you information you did not previously know?   He said that he would fix the mess for my mom before Christmas so that we could be happy.  He said he would be with us all on Christmas Day after cleaning up all the mess / shit.

How do you currently view the reality of your experience?    Experience was definitely real    I have very few dreams about my dad that are anything like this.  It was such a bizarre subject matter (needing to use a toilet, cleaning up poop).  He was determined to tell me that he would fix my mom's problems before Christmas.  He did.   Also, my mom had a similar encounter that night.  He told her not to worry, that he would fix everything right away, and that he was coming to be with her for Christmas.

Was the experience dream like in any way?    Yes    Mine was exactly like a dream, although it was very realistic.  I was definitely asleep.

Was there any emotional healing in any way following the experience?    Yes    Not right away.  At first I just thought it was a fun / weird dream.  Once I heard that my mom had a similar 'visit' and that her problems were all solved hours later, it started to make sense. I realized this was a very prophetic dream and it consoled me.  My dad had somehow fixed her insurance problem just in time for Christmas, nine years after it started, right before she was going to put the house up for sale.  He was indeed with us, in spirit, for Christmas.

What was the best and worst part of your experience?    It was incredible to see him and to be reassured that he would be with us for a very merry Christmas, with no more problems.

Has your life changed specifically as a result of your experience?    Yes    Mom's life changed considerably and she is free of stress now.  My mom didn't have to sell my childhood home.   

Did you have any changes of attitudes or beliefs following the experience?    No   

Did the experience give you any spiritual understandings such as life, death, afterlife, God, etc.?    Yes    I believe that somehow my dad was able to see mom's pain and fix her problem just in time, before she sold their house.  There is clearly an afterlife and it's obvious that love never dies.

Did you observe or hear anything regarding people or events during your experience that could be verified later?   Yes He said he would fix all mom's problems (e.g., fix the mess, clean up all this 'shit' for mom), and he did… the mess was a metaphor for her financial problems.

Was the experience witnessed or experienced by others?    Yes    My mother had a similar message from my father at the same time.

Did you have any sense of altered space or time?       No   

Did you have a sense of knowing, special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?        No   

Did you become aware of future events?           Yes    He said that he would fix all of mom's problems before Christmas, and then enjoy Christmas with all of us.

Did you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience that you did not have prior to the experience?     No   

Did you experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?    No   

Did you meet or see any other beings other than the deceased?    Yes    My family members were in the dream at the beginning, sitting by the Christmas tree and watching the fireplace.  I don't remember what they were saying but we were all happy and just enjoying a glass of wine.  I don't think dad was 'dead' in the dream because no one seemed to be mourning him.  He ended up being in the bathrooms fixing the toilets.

Did you see a light?    No   

Did any part of your experience seem to occur in a place other than the location described above?   No   

Have you shared this experience with others?    Yes    I told my mom because she mentioned that she had a similar message from my dad around the same time that night.  By morning her problems were all fixed.

Have you shared this experience formally or informally with any other researcher or web site?    No        

Were there any associated medications or substances with the potential to affect the experience?    No   

Following the experience, have you had any other events in your life, medications or substances which reproduced any part of the experience?   No   

Did you ever in your life have a near-death experience, out of body experience or other spiritual event?      Yes    When I woke up from major surgery in 2006 I was hysterical and screaming that I wanted to go 'back'.   The doctors thought I was crying in pain.  I wasn't.  I  had a sense of having been somewhere like heaven during the surgery and I didn't want to be alive / human when I woke up.  I felt the memory of the 'heaven' being taken from my memory .  I was crying that I didn't want to be alive or be 'me'.  I have had other surgeries before and this never happened before.  I had very little post-surgical pain but they had to sedate me because I was hysterically begging to go 'back' where I was during the surgery. I knew it was heaven but I couldn't remember the details.  My dad was already passed at this time, so I always wonder if I saw him.  I could tell that I wasn't supposed to remember.