When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest joys give off the greatest glow of happiness.  I don’t recall when the tradition started but one of mine and my siblings’ fondest memories growing up at Christmas was our father reading Twas the Night Before Christmas every Christmas Eve.  After Dad left and moved back to Connecticut, the tradition changed.  We still read it, but our sister, Mara, took over the reading.  Of all of us, she was the one that probably cherished the tradition the most.  Being the old soul that she is, she was not going to let it end.  Last year, Christmas 2017, my siblings and I FaceTimed each other from our respective locations while she read to us.  This year, Christmas 2018, we FaceTimed again, but this time, our Dad read to us again.  He recorded a Hallmark Twas the Night Before Christmas book for us!  After 7 years, we relived one of the most precious memories of our childhood.  Eyes watered, tears fell, hearts swelled.  This simple gift of time and love was the tenderness of our past, joy of the present and hope for the future all wrapped into one simple, recorded, timeless, cherished story.

Christmas is a time of remembrance when we think of everything and everyone we have ever loved.  My siblings and I are adults now, but those precious five minutes of listening to our dad whom we loved and missed froze time momentarily and made us kids again.  No matter where each of us might be in the years to come, this special Christmastime memory is a piece of home that we will forever carry in our hearts.