We Did It

And I must say, rather successfully.

There were certainly moments when tears were shed. But that is to be expected on this first Christmas without Daddy (and every Christmas from now on, for that matter). Gifts with great sentimental value were exchanged. And we visited Dad for a long while this afternoon. Although I've adjusted to the reality of seeing his name on the gravestone, I still feel like I've been punched in the stomach every time I sneak a look.

The good news is, there were also a lot of moments that Dad would have loved. From the Christmas Eve festivities (read: chaos and debauchery as only our family can do it) to the Christmas morning traditions to the annual delivery of homemade tamales from our wonderful friend Ari, Christmas '07 was certainly one to be treasured.

And of course, when this family celebrates the holidays, we can't help but add a little comic relief to the mix. The highlight of this year was walking into church at 4:30 for the Christmas Eve service, only to find out that this year they switched the time to 4:00 instead of 5:00. We made it just in time for the pastor's meditation and a couple of carols, and then we were out the door again. And we couldn't help but notice that we weren't the only ones who made this blooper. 'Guess us Christmas Eve Christians/heathens didn't get the memo. Daddy would have checked ahead of time but we've been going there at 5:00 for so many years, we figured we were safe. Oops!

Honorable Comedic Mention goes to my sister Kayley for intentionally becoming the center of attention for the entirety of Christmas Eve. 5 words, Lil' Sis: "On behalf of my mother..."

This is the kind of Christmas my father taught us to create. And I can't help but imagine him watching us from above with happiness and pride and quite a bit of sadness that he's unable to take in the fun himself. Of course, knowing him, he's befriended everyone in heaven and probably threw a Christmas bash that put ours to shame.

Merry Christmas, Daddy. We did the best we could but it will never be the same. We love you!