Holidays.

I can't believe its already the 20th of December, this year is hurtling towards its end. They have a fake Christmas tree up at Dad's house, and some tasteful decorations. Its a nice tree, actually. Dad's caregiver stressed how important it was for the residents to feel involved in the change of seasons, which I agree with. It reminded me about how much Dad used to like Christmas.
He made a big deal of the holiday; he and my mom would go shopping in the malls at night when they stayed open late. Then on Christmas Eve day he would go out to the malls all day, getting home late at night and ferrying interesting packages straight to the basement. My sister and I would be jigging with anticipation. Then the next morning, we would have to wait until the living room was ready, and the tree was lit up before he let us out to see all the presents, wrapped and unwrapped. He always made sure there was an equal number of gifts for each of us, although we really didn't care after a certain age.
Christmas was never really the same after my mom died. We all tried for a year or two, but couldn't recapture that same magic. Every year when the holiday rolls around, though, I make the Christmas cookies my mom made and remember the lit-up tree and the stacks of gifts that my Dad took such pleasure in giving to us.