Christmas Past

I think about Dad the most this time of year. It's no secret that Dad wasn't the easiest or nicest person to be around growing up, but somehow when Christmas rolled around, that person disappeared for a little while. He wanted to bring a wonderful Christmas to our home. In the time we all lived under one roof, Dad succeeded at this. 

He was always the first person awake and waiting for us to peak around the corner to see what Santa brought us. He loved opening presents as much as we did. He was like a kid. Shaking packages and making guesses as to what was inside. One piece of tape at a time - no one ever opened presents as slowly as Dad did. Sometimes we had to lend a hand to speed up the process. I remember we would stick bows to the top of his slightly balding head. Afterwards, he filled our breakfast plates with a stack of our french toast tradition. It was my favorite day of the year.

When we got older and Dad lived on his own, he still came over for Christmas day. I woke up early, waiting by the window for his truck to appear in the driveway. I knew he was the signal for Christmas to start. He still took his sweet time unwrapping presents and cried every time we gave him a framed picture of me and my sister. He spent the day with us but it was always sad to see him go home to an empty house. 

Next week will be our 4th Christmas without Dad. I don't know if Christmas will ever feel the same without him. Thankfully, these memories of Dad are real. I cling to them tight because that's all I can do. Our family continues to make new traditions and this year is the first Christmas with my sweet niece, Emry. I wish so much she could experience Grandpa like we did on Christmas day, but we will make sure to carry on traditions of Christmas past.

Life moves fast and things can change with the blink of an eye. Be sure to pause and take in moments with the ones you love this Christmas because you never know when a memory is all you have left of someone. 

-Megan

Some things never change. Bows on Dad's head a couple Christmases ago.

Merry Christmas!