A thought from Christmas. I know that it was weeks ago but my parents only have dial-up which as you may remember is very slow and temperamental so I typed up my thoughts and saved them to post later.
It is Christmas Eve and after attending the candle light service at Oak Grove Christian Church as we do every year we went to our neighbors Tania and Bill's for supper. After eating and spending some time over there we came home to open Christmas gifts. We don’t have a particular tradition for opening gifts as my dad used to work a rotating shift not guaranteeing him Christmas day off. On the years that he had to work we would open presents after church, amazing how Santa knew when dad had to work, and then on Christmas day while dad was working mom would take us to a movie. They first year I can remember us doing this we went to see Mona Lisa Smile, with Julia Roberts. The years when dad did not have to work we would open gifts on Christmas morning and spend the rest of the day playing with toys and watching Christmas movies such as Frosty the Snowman and Santa Clause is Coming to Town. When we were little we had huge Christmas’s with gifts every where. Dad used to film us opening presents and even at 20 years old he recorded me. This is the first year that he didn’t video tape us opening our gifts. I suppose now that Jenna is 18 and graduated we are too old for it.
This year marks a very special Christmas as it marks the receiving of my first letter. They were supposed to be a surprise but mom accidentally said something to Jenna one day and she said something to me. Every year since I was born my dad has written me a letter on Christmas and around the time of my birthday. The letters include a summary of things that happened in my life that year, how I have grown or changed, etc. Dad asked me this summer when I would like to start getting them, knowing that they would be very special to me I wasn’t sure I wanted to read them so I replied when he passed away. Of course this isn’t really logical but I didn’t want to say when I wanted the letters I knew that my dad would start giving them to be when the time was right.
It was my last gift tonight and my most meaningful one. I waited to read it until I was in my room alone because I knew it would make me cry. It is so special to think that my parents thought ahead to begin doing this the very year that I was born and to keep it up all this time. I think another thing that makes it special is that they are from my dad. You always hear of how moms saved every little thing but you rarely hear of a father doing something this special. And it is not a thing. It isn’t a dress that I wore or a picture I don’t remember drawing but it is about me and a documentary of my life and of our lives as a family and about the people that had an impact in our lives. Needless to say it made me cry and actually I am still crying as I am writing this. This is something that I will treasure forever and is perhaps the greatest gift I have ever received apart from my salvation.
I hope that one day I can give my children something as special and meaningful as this and maybe it can become a tradition. I am going to keep the letters in my hope chest with other special memories that I have. I think it would be wise to type out the letters as to have a back up copy in case something would happen to the originals. This will also ensure that when I am gone or old and gray and can’t see well anymore that others will be able to read the hand writing and read about my life, even the parts that I can’t or won’t remember.
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