What Does Christmas Mean to YOU?

 I was thinking about Christmas and what my daughter said on her personal web site today. It was a picture of one of her Christmas trees from a couple of years ago. Underneath the picture she said; "I love Christmas! “It’s all about Jesus and children!"

I thought and asked myself "What does Christmas mean to me?" To ME it reminds me of my childhood, when my Mom would take us downtown to shop on State Street here in Chicago. Back then they didn't have any shopping malls so you had to shop downtown for presents. Just to go down there and see the window displays got me excited because I knew Santa was coming soon.

Christmas Eve was always the BIG day for me because my Mom and Dad and my sister and I would all go over to my Grandmother's house. Everybody was there, all my aunts and uncles and all of my cousins. You could hardly see the tree for the presents were stacked so high. My cousins and I would wait for my uncle Bill to bring down HIS presents. At the last moment when everybody was there, he would put his presents under the tree. They were always the biggest and the best and were all covered in the same green holiday wrapping paper. The fun came when we got to open our presents. The adults would sit back and watch us kids. "Mommy Look at What I Got!" I yelled out to her. I loved the smiles on my parent’s faces when I showed them what I had gotten. It was the one time of the year when everybody was together and everybody was happy. Yeah, Christmas to ME is about family and happiness.

The years have gone by and now I am the Grandfather. All of my grandparents, uncles, aunts and especially my parents are all gone now. I sit here all alone in my apartment and think about how wonderful it would be if suddenly they were all here with me again on Christmas. But sadly they can only be with me in my mind.

 This Christmas I will happily drive 6 hours to my daughter's home for Christmas that is if it doesn’t snow and watch my grandchildren open their presents. Unlike my parents before me, I'll get down on the floor with my grandchildren and help them play with their toys. I guess I'm trying to recapture my childhood but who cares. I have fun playing with my grand kids and their toys.

 I would love to hear from everybody and tell us "What Does Christmas mean to YOU"

Merry Christmas Everybody