Merry Christmas 2012

Just some photos of Christmas 2012...

Photos of our tree and presents, a photo of hubby on Christmas afternoon, and a photo of daughter and son-in-law-to-be (cute, aren't they?!)...

Sorry for the brevity of this post, but I'm posting it from my phone, not the easiest thing to do...

More soon... I want to talk about 2013, daughter's new house (yay!), my resolutions, my art, and lots more...

Merry Christmas and just in case I'm not back before 2013, Happy New Year!!!!

Mom's Home!!!

You probably didn't notice, but a couple of posts ago, I was talking about Jack going to shovel out Mrs. D's house and Mom's, too, and how I asked her to give him some lunch...  Such a casual mention of MOM BEING HOME!

She got in on Tuesday evening, at 4:38pm.  I went to pick her up and the announcement board said her train was arriving on Track 1.  So I went to Track 1.  And I waited on Track 1.

Then she called me and said it was too cold on the platform so she was waiting in the Waiting Room.  Mom was home.  And Mom wasn't where she was supposed to be so things got back to normal really fast.  I started yelling at her that I was IN the Waiting Room and she wasn't there, where was she, the train hasn't even come in yet...

The train came in on Track 2.  Mom was in the Waiting Room.  On Track 2.

So although I was waiting with camera-in-hand on Track 1, I put it away quickly and ran down the stairs then up the escalator to get Mom from Track 2.  And I never took a photo of her arrival!

But I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO glad she's home!

Of course, it can't be without some sort of trauma:  her luggage didn't come in with her.  In fact, her luggage didn't come in until yesterday, Friday, 3 days later!  We picked it all up this morning at Penn Station in Newark.

Last night we had Christmas with Mom.  She came for dinner, which has traditionally been a full turkey dinner, but this year, with the snow and people's schedules, and all the rushing around we all had to do, I picked up two pizzas from Costco and someone sent us tamales.  MMMMMMM, they were yummy!!!  So it was a bit of a pot luck dinner, and Sister C brought some candy for dessert...

And I didn't take any photos of Xmas in January, either.  (For someone committing to taking more photos, I'm not doing so well!)

Today we picked Mom up to go get her luggage and stopped at the Lyndhurst Shop-Rite for breakfast, so I took a photo of her there, wearing her new hat and scarf that Santa brought her from C last night...  (It's not the Rat Hat!!!  Private family joke, sorry!)

And tonight we had a 19th b'day party for my niece, who made me swear not to post any videos or photos on Facebook or on YouTube, but since she knows nothing about this blog, and the only people who read this blog will never rat me out to her, here's a photo of my gorgeous niece and nephew!!!  (The photo seems a bit grainy - I'll have to check my camera battery...)

Well, that's it for now...  Once I get caught up on my scrapping projects, I'll post some photos...  I'm doing three of them at once, one quite actively, and two, well, not so much...

December Daily 2010 - ALMOST

Here are photos of pages from my December Daily book, inspired by Ali Edwards' annual project.  I don't have near the talent she does but I'm LOVING that I have a start to finish record of December 2010!  Yea, sure, I have to go and fill in two spreads, but the rest of it is D.O.N.E.  That's "done" to you and me!!!

Sorry about the 17th - I took the photo in portrait rather than landscape and am having trouble rotating it in Blogger...  I'll keep trying, and if I figure it out, I'll remove this advance apology!!!

If you want to see the photos a bit larger, you can click on the individual pictures...



Christmas 2010, Part Deux!

Some photos from Christmas brunch at my sister-in-law's house...

The proud grandparents...

J, aka Scrooge/the Grinch/my hubby!

 Mr. and Mrs. Grinch/Scrooge!

Cioci Krys and E!





Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas, readers!  I hope your holidays are filled with love and happiness and good health! 

I thought, perhaps, if you're snowed in, or in the process of getting snowed in, that you might enjoy a peek into Christmas at our house...

Here is a photo of our Christmas tree 2010! I decided to go white/silver/clear only this year, except for yes, 3 red ornaments and one brown ornament that will always be on my tree, no matter what the theme that year...  I have a clear red ball with a silver "K" filled with tinsel that my dad made for me when I was small.  I have a red heart that I bought in honor of my dad after he died.  And there are two homemade ornaments that J made with his kids when they were small - one is a painted Santa Claus and one is a gingerbread man. 

This is the inside of St. Catherine of Siena's Church in Cedar Grove.  It's not "our" church and it's not even the church we used to go to for Midnight Mass.  I had a bit of a falling out with the church of my childhood so J and I joined the church of my earlier childhood.  But now we go to non-Midnight Mass at St. Catherine's, at 10pm on Christmas Eve.  To my everlasting annoyance, Midnight Mass is no longer at midnight.  But they still have a half-hour of Christmas carols before Mass and some other man and I sang along with the choir this year!  No one else did, but we did!  This church does have some meaning for us - our nieces got married here, our great niece was baptized here and this is the church J's sister attends.  So even though it's not "ours," we enjoy Mass here...

This is our beautiful baby great niece, E.  Isn't she the cutest!?!?!?  This was Christmas Day, about 1pm, just after she took a little nap, and after her parents opened SO many presents for her!  She got so many outfits and baby toys and books and tree ornaments and...  I got her a cute pink silk dress that they might have her wear at the wedding in April, and a cute purple sweatsuit that she can wear now, and Santa brought her the same toy we chose, but apparently it's the one she chose to play with over all others, so ours will be kept at Grandma's Mimi's and PopPop's...

Here's our beautiful daughter M with her fiance S, in front of our tree yesterday afternoon.  I feel for them.  M is so conscious and thoughtful about spending time with both sides of the family, and S's parents are divorced, too. This means they have FOUR families to try and see on the holiday.  And unfortunately both sides on each side don't spend a lot of time together at all - little to NONE - so they are on the move on Christmas Day.  To make it worse, S had to work!  But we did spend some time with them and that's the best gift they could give us!

Here's a photo of the three of us, taken at arm's length in our library just before M left for S's mom's house!  We lent her our Subaru, and she left her Scion TC in our driveway.  THANK GOODNESS since it's blizzarding now and her teeny sports car is simply a rolling death trap!  At least the Subaru has 4-wheel drive.  She's home, safe and sound, though, after only a brief trip to the gym this morning, before the snow got too bad.

Here's our annual couple's photo.  J already dressed down into a sweat jacket; he's not much for staying dressed up if he doesn't have to, so pardon the mix of casual and business casual we have going in the photo!  Santa brought J a TomTom GPS system, and surprisingly he didn't whine about how he doens't want one of these, and why did I Santa bother bringing him one...  He did ask if I knew how to operate one and well, we'll just learn together!  I got a beautiful pashmina shawl, some gift cards, a Thomas Kincaide mug, and a computer lap desk from J Santa.  I must have been a good girl this year!



More photos to come, as I go through my camera...

Santa came early...

So I bought myself a Flip video camera for my b'day - I needed - NO - I deserved a little something special 'cause it was a BIG birthday - 5.0.  I just can't believe I'm 50 - I literally feel like I'm in my 20s or 30s. 

Okay, maybe I don't feel that way first thing in the morning when I'm struggling to walk upright to the bathroom.  And maybe I don't feel quite that young when I get up from my desk chair at work, after three hours of sitting in almost the exact same position, only to find that my hips HURT.

But for the most part, I still have that young mindset that people who are 50 are O.L.D.  I know they're not, but fifty????!!!!????  Thankfully many of my friends cashed those checks I sent and told me I don't look fifty.  But truly, those small lines and wrinkles?  I earned each and every one of them and I'm okay with them.  And I'm okay with getting older - after all, the alternative is not an option!

Anyway, back to the Flip camera.  Darling hubby reimbursed me for it so it really WAS a b'day present for yours truly!

Then there I was, sitting in front of my computer the other day and something else on Amazon was on sale, an electronic gadget I don't need, certainly not something I ever thought I wanted (NOPE, P, don't get all excited - I didn't buy myself a Kindle!), and I went for it!  I bought myself an 1&&%#)(.  I can't post it here until I break it to my husband.  But suffice it to say it's fun!  Or it will be, anyway, once I tell him I bought it, and then I start playing with it...  Tonight's the night - I'm telling him that I got it, then I can come out of that hidden-present-for-myself-closet!

I know I've been a less-than-stellar blogger of late, but I promise to post some photos, and some updates, over the holiday season - there will be lots to talk about - after all, Santa's coming...

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

I found this on a blog I read called The Amazing Trips. Apparently she was surprised that she broke into tears, but I'm not surprised I did! This music just feeds my soul. Whenever we go to Christmas Eve mass and they play this, well, I cry, I sniffle, my heart warms...

Take a 4minute 57second break and watch this video. I have to admit, if this took place in my mall and I was there, I'd be up there singing with the singers!!!

Merry Ho, Ho, Ho!!!

Photos will come later this week, when I can sit down, go through them, and find one or two that are in focus, illustrate the joy and happiness of our holiday, and don't make me look like I've eaten six meals a day for the past three days! (Although, yay, me! I was DOWN 2.4 lbs at Weight Watchers yesterday!)

We spent Christmas Eve here at my house, with my sister C and her 2 children (who were 1-1/2 hours late), C's boyfriend T and his son R, and my mom. Our neighbors stopped by to say hello and deliver some gift cards - you were ALL WAY TOO GENEROUS! I have a lot of shopping to do on my week off!

We went to Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at 10:30pm. (Does that bother anyone else like it bothers me? Even the Pope celebrated Midnight Mass at 10-something pm. That really ticks me off!)

On Christmas Day we woke up, I put the ham in the oven, all 13.89 pounds of it, we showered and waited around for DSD M to come up from her mom's. We went to my sister-in-law's house where we watched them open their presents - they were late this year! Then we snacked on bagels and cold cuts for a quick 1/2-hour and Jack and I and M returned home by way of my mom's to pick her up, and we opened presents, then ate dinner. M's fiancee S stopped by en route to his dad's house so we got to celebrate with him, too, for a little while.

Santa was very good to me - lots of little presents, with many to open, just the way I like it! I don't want one big present that ends the day as soon as it begins! I'd rather get a bunch of stocking stuffer gifts, all wrapped and put under the tree for distribution and unwrapping, so that Christmas lasts a long time!

Come back and visit in a few days, when I post my pictures!

Miss you all and wish we could have celebrated the holiday together!

Christmas Paperback Trees

I made one of these! (If you go to the original page you can see the awesome glitter on the edges of the trees!) I will take a picture of mine and upload it here next week (well, sometime after the holiday!). LOVE this idea! I just happened to have a trashy romance novel just lying around that had no socially redeeming characteristics, and lo and behold! It became a treasured holiday decoration!!!

http://wendysmedley.typepad.com/possibilities/2009/11/kayla-aimee---sample-lesson.html

Two-and-a-half more days...

... until I can start wearing real shoes, without my favorite fashion accessory, the black broken-pinkie-toe-boot!

The doctor had told me to wear it 2-3 weeks. I went with 3, to be safe. Yesterday and today, it really feels good - a bit stiff, but less painful and I seem to be walking more normally.

I finally got a tree - 7-1/2' and artificial, but it's not.a.pigmy.tree!!! I was so tired of small live trees to replant at the lake or my little 5' tree... I'm a Christmas person and I wanted a Christmas TREE! Not a Christmas bush!

I'm in the midst of decorating it - will post pictures when I have them!

We'll be at the lake over the holidays - I'm off from 12/23 until 01/04 (YAY!) and will be shopping for a laptop, using a borrowed one in the meantime! So I'll be online over the holidays!

Well, gotta run! Toodles!

BORING!

So nothing is really going on...

I'm still limping.

I'm nowhere NEAR done/started with my Christmas shopping.

OH!!!

We bought a Christmas tree last night, so I'll be doing some decorating this weekend!

AND we went to the N Family Christmas Party this past Sunday. The 50th year in a row (I've only been going for about 15 years...)!!! One of the cousin's sons put together a slide show, about 150-200 photos of the family dating back to the early 1900s. Considering the youngest aunt is 80, YOU do the math!!! There were photos of her as a baby, and photos of her parents when her oldest sibling was born!!!

I swear. I could have sat for five hours and watched that slide show! I only wish there were 500 MORE photos for me to look at!!

Remember way back when, I mentioned that I was working on a Christmas photo album, sort of a scrapbook of December? (Or at least, I THINK I mentioned it...)

Yea, right. No way. I've printed out all the prompts. I've not taken a single photo, except for maybe 4 or 5 at the party. I have to take a picture of my decorated limping shoe, too, and start - better late than never, right???

Well, gotta run and do some more online shopping - if I don't get it online this year, you're most likely not getting it at all!!!

How many days 'til Christmas?

Okay, it's been almost 20 years that I've been with my husband, counting pre-marriage, and I've ALWAYS been the Christmas ringer-inner! The holiday had some not-so great memories for him during and immediately after his divorce.

But I've always been such a Christmas baby, totally unrelated, by the way, to the fact that my birthday is a week before Christmas! I decorate whatever stays still long enough to have tinsel attached!

But today, October 25th, TWO MONTHS BEFORE Christmas, my darling husband is outside hanging Christmas lights on our lakeside deck. We spent ten minutes deciding colored bulbs or white icicles. Although white lights are my favorite, I went with colored bulbs 'cause Jack likes them...

We just went outside to check them out - and except for a couple places where we have to clip them up closer to the railing, we're on our way to being decorated for Christmas! Well, we're on our way to starting our Christmas decorating...

My SIL and BIL are in Puerto Rico, relaxing in what I hope is much warmer weather than we're having here in NJ. They deserve a restful vacation - there's a lot of stress in their lives and I hope they have a GREAT few days!

I leave on Tuesday for Alexandria, VA, on business, not for fun. It's a nice town, one I always enjoy visiting. We're having at least two VERY important meetings, along with a few "meet and greet" ones, and for sure, I don't have busy 10 hour days planned. We'll have quite a bit of free time... I'm borrowing a laptop from work so I can stay on top of my emails, at least... although my message will clearly say I have "limited" access to email and I'll refer them all to Customer Service unless it can wait until Friday, when I return... It's just too hard to stay on top of everything when you don't have all you need at your fingertips...

I'll be staying in the Sheraton Suites in Alexandria; they have some beautiful hotel rooms, that's for sure! I'll post some pictures next week (or over the weekend).

I picked up some fabric scraps from my mom so I can practice my sewing. I also will be hemming an old sheer curtain for our 2nd floor bath so it doesn't have to hang down into the tub.

I've completed a page in my art journal - I had started it before but I didn't like it so I painted over it and started again. I even added some paint to some other pages, so that I'm not looking at a totally blank canvas - that can be intimidating. It was fun getting paint all over me!

Well, more while I'm away...

Since Miss Hope likes her some photos...

Jack opening one of his stocking stuffers... He's always complaining he has no energy so I bought him a bottle of One a Day Vitamins formulated for increased Energy!
This is my sister C and her beau, T. He really seems to be a nice guy. He cares a lot for her and for her kids, despite their less than enthusiastic reception of his place in their lives. And he gave C a beautiful emerald and diamond band for Christmas!

These are the beautiful flowers I got for my birthday from my sister and my mom and from the girls at the office. (This year Jack gets a failing mark for no flowers!) And sorry, P, I realized after I took this picture, that it's another one where you can't see the purple flowers in the arrangement! They were there! I swear!

Here's Maria, opening one of her presents Christmas afternoon. When she opened it, she smiled big and said, "I KNEW I could count on you for a great sweater!" As boring as it sounds when I read it here, there was such enthusiasm in her voice! It's a good thing! (I didn't take a picture of the set of knives I bought her. Knives that were identical to the knives her mother bought her that she opened earlier in the morning. Darn it! So I'm returning them and contributing to Maria's Ugg cause...)

Isn't he just one of the handsomest boys you've ever seen? This is my nephew, J. There aren't a lot of pictures of him where he's just genuinely him, no sneer, no sarcastic expression in his eyes, just J. Love him so much!

And this beauty is my niece, A. Gorgeous, right?! Another of those rare photos, a real smile, happy, carefree, no teen angst... (These last two pictures were taken in our house on Christmas Eve.)

And here's this year's mini-tree. I bought this little 5' tree for the lake. I used to stand it on a coffee table in front of the picture window, but this year, it took the place of our "real" tree in Clifton. We went looking for a 9' prelit artificial tree post-holiday. And we found one. Beautiful. Perfect for our 9' ceilings. P.S. When you have 9' ceilings, a 9' tree doesn't work 'cause the 9' refers to the height of the tree not.counting.the.stand. We now have big gouges in our library ceiling where we tried to set up the new tree we bought on a non-returnable basis at 50% off... (Thank goodness I bleach blonde highlights into my hair: I played the blonde card at Home Depot and said, "My husband said our ceilings were 9' high but I didn't know that the tree height didn't include the stand and $150 is a lot of money to spend on a tree I can't use! Can't I please return it? I just bought it this morning!..." And he let me return it!)
This was our dining room table set up for Christmas Eve dinner. And yes, baby Jesus is in the manger even though he technically wasn't born yet... And yes, those are paper plates. Boy, was this an easy holiday! Minimal dishwashing, just sweep off the table and toss in the trash!!!

Sometime in the next few weeks, I'm going to post some pictures taken in my home so you can sort of peek into my house... Another blogger did this and it was so much fun to see how others live. It was like peeking in their windows but with permission!!!

Power Shopping

Okay, I admit it.

I'm not ready for Christmas.

THERE, I said it. And I survived.

I can remember the days I started shopping early, started decorating even earlier than that! I used to have Christmas cards written out and mailed the Friday after Thanksgiving. Then it slipped to Thanksgiving weekend. Then I was glad when I go them done in November....

Now. Not glad about much! Cards aren't done. Shopping's not done. Wrapping's not done. Decorating's as done as it's going to be. Cleaning's not done. (Heck, it's barely started!)

Today we're in the middle of our first bad winter storm. There's about 6 inches of snow outside; there's probably around 8 to 12 at the lake house. Hoboken didn't shut down the schools so Jack couldn't shut down his after school program so he's just leaving NOW for the trip home. The roads are icy, treacherous. I've been watching the news - there are accidents and stuck cars all over.

This morning, when the storm first started, I was out shopping. I took the day off to shop. To be able to buy Jack something other than the paperback version of Marley and Me that he'll probably return 'cause the print is so small... And I power-shopped (hence the title of this post...): $170 in Target in an hour, and another $180 in Costco in another hour. (Although I did forget to pick up my pills at the pharmacy counter in Costco so they'd better be open tomorrow!)

Costco is 1 mile from my house.

It took me an hour to get home.

1/2 an hour to get out of the parking lot, another 1/2 hour to drive the two streets to my house. 1/2 an hour and two accidents, two stuck cars, and innumerable crazy-a-s drivers!!!

But I'm home, safe and sound. Now let's keep our fingers crossed Jack gets here in the same condition!

Once he gets home, we'll heat up leftover pizza (he had 28 pies delivered to school for his after-school party), then he'll shovel us out (at least I put a dent in it earlier today) and then we'll drive over to my mom's house to clean the sidewalks, shovel a path to her side door and feed her cats, and then we'll go over to KD's mom's house to shovel her out. Then we'll come home and collapse into a big, cold, wet, snowy heap! I'll make hot tea, he'll fall asleep without drinking it...

I hope we're home in time for Numbers on TV tonight. He really likes that show, almost as much as I like Criminal Minds... I'd like him to just sit and relax...

And a special thank you to Miss Hope, who posted an absolutely lovely entry on her blog wishing me a happy b'day - thanks for being my friend!!!!

20 Little Things to Treasure at Christmas

Melissa at The Inspired Room is incredible. She has a wonderful sense of style, and I don't know where she finds the photos of the rooms that she posts, but my-oh-my could I be happy in those homes!!! And when she shows what she's capable of in her own home? I'm just pea green with jealousy!

But today she posted her 20 Little Things to Treasure at Christmas (click on the link above to read her list!) and she inspired me to create my own list. So here goes:

1. My family - I am lucky to be married to the most wonderful guy in the world, stepmom to two great kids (Johnny, I wish you were reading this!), daughter to the best mom on earth, sister to 2 wonderful women who truly don't know how great they are, aunt to a nephew and a niece I would give my world for, and cousin/in-law/aunt/friend to numerous other people who I am blessed to call family or friends.
2. My faith - By definition, faith is belief that is not based on proof; faith is a belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion, a belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit. Faith is a system of religious belief, the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance. I believe. And now, at Christmas-time, when I sit in church and I listen to the music, and I hear the readings, and I think about God and Jesus - well, that's something I treasure.
3. Those of my family who are gone - Daddy, Babci, Dziadzi, Cioci Eliza, Granddaddy and Grandmommy, Mom and Dad, and all the aunts and uncles I've met and loved since Jack and I married. I miss you every day, but never more so than at this time of year when every twinkling light reminds me of you.
4. My home - filled with the smells and lights and colors of Christmas. If it's standing still, it's decorated! No matter how much time it takes, or how tired I feel, I LOVE decorating!
5. The time I spend looking for that perfect gift, and the feeling that comes over me when I see something that I know will be just right for...
6. White Christmas - the song, the movie, the happy ending.
7. The music - Little Drummer Boy (Bing Crosby and David Bowie's rendition is my favorite!), O Holy Night (with the lights out in church except for the star over the manger - I think my heart stops every year!), The First Christmas Morning (Dan Fogelberg's Christmas album), Hark the Herald Angels Sing, We Three Kings, The First Noel... I could name song after song...
8. How the Grinch Stole Christmas - the original version - no one can beat Bela's voice!
9. Having Maria make time to spend with us on the holiday - it's tough, considering...
10. My Santa pin from Patty and my Christmas tree earrings - I never leave home without them! And now I have my blinking necklace to add to the outfit! (Thanks, C!)
11. Snow. And more snow.
12. Driving around, looking at Christmas lights.
13. Cinnamon spice coffee.
14. Wigilia - our Polish Christmas Eve. Sharing oplatek. Tradition.
15. Santa driving down our street on the firetruck at 6pm-ish on Christmas Eve - AND all my Orthodox neighbor children outside waving and laughing at Santa, too, and laughing at me when they see how excited I get about Santa!
16. Sharing my Christmas and sharing their Hanukkah.
17. Midnight Mass - this sort of fits with the music and my faith, but I think it deserves its own entry - being surrounded by so many people in church for the same reason: to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus. I'm filled with love and hope and there's never a Midnight Mass where my eyes don't tear up!
18. Celebrating my birthday on the 18th (Happy Birthday to me!)
19. Presents! No matter how small, I love opening them! (Even when I know what they are!)
and
20. Jack. I know I mentioned him in #1, but he deserves a number all his own, and he's the "best for last." I love him. I am thankful for him and for his love. I treasure him.

12 Days of Giveaways

YAY! My pal E pointed me in the direction of this awesome blog - 12 Days of Giveaways!
And not only is it fun, it's done so much of my shopping for me!
It gave me some great ideas!
Now all I have to do is take Friday off and implement them!!!
Okay, I will (take Friday off, that is!), if I must...

Christmas the way I wish it was...

I read this article today and had to share... http://www.newdream.org/holiday/story.php

A Christmas Story

It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so. It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas---oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it- overspending... the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma---the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else. Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike.
The inspiration came in an unusual way. Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat. Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them." Mike loved kids-all kids-and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present came.
That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition- one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on. The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents. As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure.
The story doesn't end there. You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more. Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope. Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us. May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true Christmas spirit this year and always. God bless---pass this along to your friends and loved ones.