Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!  I hope that you are primed to celebrate among family and friends.  

This has always been a special time for me.  When I was a kid, I would thrill to the first Christmas lights going up on our street.  My parents never went that far, but we always had a tree, stockings and presents to open Christmas morning. 

When I was young I loved toys.  I remember one year lobbying my parents trying to open my presents early.  My Dad was indifferent.  My Mom tried to resist, but she got tired of hearing me complain and relented.  I opened the biggest box.  It was a Star Wars toy, Boba Fett’s starship.  I was happy with the present, but then on Christmas morning I was disappointed that I had already opened my best gift the day before.  From then on, I said that I’d wait until the morning of. 

Evelyn and I now are trying to recreate that sense of celebration and specialness for Christopher and Damian.  We want them to know that they are loved no matter what, and that there is always a place for them to call home and a family that will come together with them with warmth and joy.  

It’s up to us to fill our homes with that sense of belonging.  We can’t control a lot of what is going on outside in the world.  But we can control the way we approach these days, the memories we help create for our families, and the feeling that our loved ones get when they join us or reach out to us.

I happened to notice that Disney+ has a new series based on Boba Fett coming soon.  I may try and get my kids to watch it and tell them about how Dad played with that toy when he was their age.  I’ll tell them how their grandparents always made sure to celebrate this time of year, and how they should appreciate grandma and grandpa.  But more than anything else I just want to give them that feeling that I had as a kid.  I know if they have it, they’ll pass it on.