The Holiday Season

I am not much of a fan of the holidays. I think Christmas is so commercialized that it really does not matter much to me. I do get joy in seeing the look on my kid's faces as they open their gifts. I got this from my dad.

Growing up, and even today, my dad loved Christmas. I can remember him sitting next to our tree with a cup of coffee passing out gifts to my siblings and me. He loved to pass out the gifts and watch us open them. He loved to see the looks on our faces as we opened them. The only thing he loved more was disguising our gifts and confusing us.

I never remember my dad putting our correct names on our gifts. one year I might have been Charlie. Another year I could have been Sharon or even circle. He always kept us guessing. The story is that he started doing that because my mom was very impatient. She could not wait to open her gifts under the tree and sometimes opened them before Christmas morning and then wrapped them back up.

The other thing my dad did was disguise our gifts. He might have wrapped a shirt to look like a baseball bat. Or wrapped a football to look like a dinosaur. You never knew what you were opening would turn out to be. He continues to do this today. He disguises the gifts for my kids and my nieces as random, funky shapes or animals. He loves to see their reactions and guesses as to what they are opening.

He makes it fun for all of us. We are always wondering how he will out do himself this Christmas. I haven't inherited his playfullness in this respect because I just don't have the patience with gift wrapping. Maybe I should start.