Thanks, Dad

As I get ready to celebrate my third Christmas without Dad, I think back to all the special Christmases we all spent together. Christmas, for me, has always been one of the most cherished times of year, and my dad made sure we all felt a little Christmas magic.

I can remember the first time he and my mom decided that we were all old enough to stay up for midnight mass. What excitement! We were going to be awake when the clock struck midnight and it was exactly Christmas morning. We dressed to the nines and only fell asleep a couple times in mass...and then hurried into bed when we got home. The image of my dad in his suit and tie is etched into my memory. He was so proud of his family, and nothing pleased him more than to see us all together.

Christmas morning was all about five kids tearing into stacks and stacks of gifts beneath the tree, but we had to wait for all members of the family to be present before saying "Go!" Typically that involved waving a cup of coffee under the older folks' noses and doing a lot of tapping our fingers as we waited ever-so-patiently. Yet I am glad for those moments of waiting today. The memory of a Christmas tree with gifts spilling out onto the hardwood family room floor is fresh and clear. The quiet and peace of an untouched Christmas memory was strikingly juxtaposed with flinging of Christmas wrappings and subsequent shrieks of delight from five rosy-faced youngsters.

I look for those moments of solitude now and remember a man whose sole purpose in life was to see his family happy, well-cared-for, and loved. You see, it was never about the material things at Christmastime, even though we appreciated our gifts and were ecstatic to receive them. Dad made sure we knew it was all about the faith in a higher power, the knowledge that we were loved before we even made our presence known on this Earth of ours.

As I prepare for Christmas with my own son now, I look with pride at the young boy he has become, a boy who asked only for a Star Wars Lego set, a Lakers basketball uniform and some Indiana Jones action figures for Christmas. He pauses and thinks about the cost of items, knowing that money doesn't magically appear anytime we want it to, and knowing that the simple things are best.

I am thankful for the gift of love that my mom and dad imparted to each of us kids so many years ago. And I treasure the Christmas magic yet to come.



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