It’s the day after Christmas 2011 and I’m finding myself very happy and content with this holiday season. Our kids received most of the items on their Christmas lists and their reaction Christmas morning was priceless. We are truly blessed to have happy, healthy and well-adjusted kids.
As the holidays wore on, I heard some of the stories from other parents about footing the bill for expensive gifts for their kids such as TV’s or other electronics, or other items like brand name clothes or apparel and it really made me stop and think; do I remember any of the Christmas gifts I received as a kid?
For the most part, the answer is no. I think remember some things here and there – my first radio or a new basketball, but for all those years and all those gifts, I really don’t think I can remember any one in particular.
It’s not that I’m ungrateful or senile, quite the opposite is true. I always appreciate the gesture of someone giving me a gift no matter how big or small and I think that’s simply because I do truly appreciate the gesture and the effort it took someone to go out of their way to make me happy.
The strange thing about my mental journey to Christmas’s past was that although I had few memories of specific gifts, I had many clear memories of people, feelings, smells and sounds. I can still smell breakfast cooking Christmas morning and I can still remember the sound of my sisters running around trying to figure out of Santa had come. I remember Christmas dinner and the warmth of being around those I love. I remember being thankful that I had a family and a warm home and food and people who cared about me, things not everyone had.
If you hang around enough old people you eventually hear them say that they wish they had realized when they were young that money didn’t matter and their careers didn’t matter and the size of their house didn’t matter and that if they could do things over they would spend more time with their kids and the people they loved. I’ve always been fascinated by that mentality and that it takes so many people so long to really understand it.
Our kids had a good Christmas filled with presents, food, and lots of love from family and friends. It will be interesting 20 years from now to see if they remember what they got this Christmas, if they remember how they felt.
