Fezziwig’s Window
I was 17, a senior in high school and spending my first Christmas with my driver’s license. It was sometime after dark on Christmas Eve, my favorite day of the […]
Looking Back at Christmas 2004
This afternoon I went out on my lunch break to the Walmart to find some dry erase markers that are to be a part of a special Santa present to the boys. It was rainy and dreary and as I tried to navigate out of the difficult parking lot, a […]
Christmas Magic
While I don’t remember who specifically told me, I remember other details around that moment so clearly, more than 30 years later. It’s odd that I can’t remember whether it was my mom or my older brother standing ahead of me and to the left as we came to the […]
CSI: North Pole
A couple of months ago, our dog Digger lost a tooth and so the kids decided to put it in a bag and put it under their pillow for the Tooth Fairy. Later that night, after I had slipped the tooth away and was in the process of slipping a […]
Darkness and Light
The other night, I sat at church and watched the Christmas concert for my sons’ Catholic school. I watched with an overflowing heart as my kindergartner and my big first grader sang, one with a giant smile on his face, the other studiously singing the words as he seemed to […]
Dear Little One, Part 2
Below is the second of three “letters” I wrote to Benjamin in the month after we found out Andrea was pregnant. December 9, 2004 Dear Little One, Well, after a whole lotta tests, we are fairly certain you are on your way, and we couldn’t be any happier or excited…or […]
Wise Guy with Candy Canes
Just before Christmas, Matthew and I were walking out of daycare with him holding candy canes. He explained to me that he had three candy canes, “One for me, one for Benjamin and one for you, daddy.” He then proceeded to accidentally drop one of the candy canes, breaking it. […]
Technology is Amazing, Charlie Brown
I loved Christmas specials on television growing up. I can still remember the excitement as the colorful “Special Presentation” (or whatever it said) words would spin in a multi-colored kaleidoscope on to the screen, announcing that a Christmas show was about to come on. While I still enjoy many of them, my […]
The Christmas Cardinal
Growing up in a large family, one of the more exciting parts of the Christmas season was Pollyanna where we would pick each others names out of a hat and secretly leave little gifts or candy for the person we picked. With the boys as young as they are, we […]
Christmas Past: Bittersweet Christmas
I wrote this seven years ago…It was just after we discovered that Andrea was pregnant with Benjamin. Christmas was bittersweet. I never thought it possible have joy clash with grief in the manner that it did. We found out after Christmas Eve Mass that Andy’s grandmother had possibly suffered a […]
It's The Papa 