It Is Just Not The Same

As a child, I remember the first Christmas morning I woke up after I knew Santa Clause was a big fat lie.  It was not the same.  A few years later,  I remember the Christmas I woke up after I had snooped and found all the presents ahead of time and knew what every one was going to get.  Talk about a flat experience.  Then as the years rolled by my Christmas mornings became the year that great grandmother was not there anymore making gooey soft sweet cinnamon rolls to dive into after gifts were open,  or later my grandmother's fudge and my great aunt's nut bread were suddenly missing.   After magical years of my own children's Christmas mornings suddenly they were no longer little ones.  And the holidays since my mom died have been the worst - I learned not only that there WAS a Santa after all, but she had the nerve to go and die on me.  So as the years have rolled on I have found the best strategy for me is to grab what joy presents itself at holiday time and scale back the expectations.  That is why last weekend was so special.  My daughter came to visit me and we made memories.  We started the weekend with Friday Evening at the OUTLET MALL.  On Saturday we watched a matinee on NETFLIX  

before we had a magical meal at The Golden Lamb.   It was a magical meal.  They seated us in a window seat and we could watch the throng of people down town along with  preparations for the parade that we later watched after doing some down town shopping in the historical little Ohio town of Lebanon.  

I was sad when my daughter headed home on Sunday about noon.  But that afternoon we had some laughs as we had tickets to go see Jeff Dunham at the Nutter Center in Dayton.

Although I started my work week this past week tired,  I have to say that 2015 has so far been a holiday season to add some memories to the memory bank.  And I wish the same experience to every one else.