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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
The other day, Ben and I were watching TV together when a commercial for the new Chipmunks movie came on. In it, they are singing Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”. After a moment, Ben suddenly looked very confused and then asked me, “Daddy, why were the Chipmunks singing about the guys […]
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 […]
I’ve said it before…I love Christmas. It was always magical to me as a kid, but that magic was lost for a while. Now, as new magic is created through my children, I always think back to my own childhood (and after) memories. I wrote the below a few years […]
Last night, Benjamin and Matthew decided to make Christmas presents for Andrea and I. They disappeared into the office and proceeded to discuss and create the perfect gifts (with some arguing and lots of giggling). At one point, as I passed the office door, I heard papers quickly get shuffled […]
Perhaps I should have written this a week and a day ago, but I don’t think it is ever a bad time to contemplate those things in your life that you are thankful. I can remember so many times in my life where I have wanted something more for my […]
About a year or two ago, we were visiting with friends of ours who own a house up in the Poconos. As I was walking out with Ben, I turned to my friend and asked, “Do you have any B-E-A-R-S here?” (I spelled “bears” in case that wasn’t clear.) Within […]
Last week I was driving in the car with the boys and said to them, “Do you guys know that I love you?” To this Benjamin responded, “Of course, daddy, you’ve told us that thousands of times.” “Well,” I said, “I could tell you it a million times a day […]
It's The Papa 