Countdown to Mistletoe....Day 15....Finding Christmas!

After having lunch with my honey, I took him home and off I went to cross a few items off my Christmas list.  I took my camera with the intentions of 'finding Christmas' throughout Williamsburg.  Needless to say, that didn't happen. 

Town was just too crowded to look for photo opportunities.  Instead I had to carefully watch traffic.  Craziness...I say craziness! 

When I finally sat down at home, I flipped the TV to a more light hearted channel....The Hallmark channel.  The loss the Cowboys experienced just put a damper on the tube and Stephen went back to the shredder mumbling something about a sorry no-good quarterback that needs to be fired (hehe), so I thought I'd lighten the mood.

Enter one Hallmark commercial when there isn't a tissue in sight!  You may have seen it....The parents are moving and the Dad is saying how his wife keeps everything.  The daughters find a box and inside the box is every card he's ever received.  Every card!.....fast forward....they hug him, Mom says something about only moving across town....end of commercial. And of course, it got me thinking.....

This time of year Dad would try to sneak around Mom to make sure she had everything on her Christmas list. This list was accompanied by every advertisement or catalog page with exact photos he'd clipped so we'd get the right size, color, etc.  Because he couldn't get out to shop, Kathy and I were his elves.

We'd start early December and of course she'd catch on. I'd call and ask for Dad, she'd say "Do you need me to leave the room?"  If I asked Dad a question that was a simple yes or no answer, he'd say something like...."Yeah, I guess I would go ahead and change your oil now." -or-  "Hmmmm....No, if you already painted it once, you don't need to paint it again."

Call by call and trying to wrap each gift as if he did them (using completely unexpected containers such as one of Grandma Susie's old hats) and sneak them under the tree....we did it!

During a time when we should all be happy and enjoying the beautiful lights and colors that shower our homes and yards....it is still hard.  We have beautiful memories of past Christmas festivities where we laughed so hard we couldn't breathe and those memories are still there...tattooed on my heart and mind. 

Hallmark, you did it again and you've pulled at my heart strings.  And between your commercial and my brilliant idea to follow it up with this blog post...tissues, tissues, tissues.  (Why can't women cry 'pretty'?)

I guess I really didn't need my camera after all to 'find Christmas'.  I found it in my own living room with my feet propped up on the coffee table ....and using the sleeve of my hoodie as a tissue.  Love ya Dad!