It's been a while since I last blogged, but life gets in the way. Today is a special/sad day. It marks the 12th anniversary of my Father passing away. Jon and I spent all day driving to Utah so we could spend time with our family for Christmas. I thought about my Dad all day. It's hard to lose a parent. If you have lost a parent, then you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't lost a parent, count yourself lucky that they are still around and let them know how much you love them. 12 years is a long time. It is sad how little I remember about my Dad, but when Christmas rolls around, a lot of my memories of him come flooding back:
- Setting up my Christmas tree, I thought of him. When it was time to setup our Christmas tree, he would stand in front of the fireplace to stay warm and didn't really help decorate the tree. He would rather watch us all have fun getting it together and he would enjoy the moment.
- Christmas morning, one of our family traditions is to go to our parents bedroom and have a family prayer. Naturally, we would be there by 7 am and my Dad would still be asleep. It took us 30-60 min to wake him up. Then he would jump in the shower and we would have to wait. Finally he would be ready. We would kneel in family prayer around my parents bed. After we were done, my Dad would go downstairs and get everything setup. He would plug in the Christmas tree, start the train, plug in all the Christmas lights, start the Christmas music and get a fire going. Once he got that ready, we would be able to go downstairs and see our stockings. It made for a very suspenseful day. :)
- He LOVED Christmas! He wanted the day to last forever. He would do everything so slowly. We would try to rush him so we could open our presents, but he enjoyed taking his time.
- I remember he LOVED having a new electronic toy to play with. He would spend hours setting up his new toy and trying it out. He was so cute to watch!
Christmastime is time to be with you family. Tell your parents, spouse, siblings, kids, etc...how much you love them! You never know when it will be too late and you wont have the opportunity to do it again.
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you have a fabulous Christmas!!
