Friday, November 30, 2012

Making Memories...

He had been working all day but I had no idea what that exhaustion felt like then. I was just a kid after all and it was December 23rd! I  had been thinking all day of one thing -- getting my Mom's gift wrapped and under the tree!! I could hardly wait.

And so my Daddy closed the doors to give us the privacy we required and went out to his truck -- our secret hiding place -- for the gift. It was my job to pull out the paper and tape. Only I could not find any tape. Anywhere. By the time, Dad returned to the house, I was distraught. What were we going to do? Christmas was only a couple of days away and I was eager to have the present under our tree.

I thought all hope was lost. The gift would have to be hidden and we would have to make a mad scramble to get it wrapped in time to open gifts on Christmas Eve. But my Dad said no. He had an idea.

He went back to his truck and returned with his pricing gun -- my Dad put school supplies and health and beauty aids in grocery stores around North Mississippi -- and a big smile. He pulled the pricing tape from the gun in strips and we used it to wrap my Mom's gift.

Way before we wrapped gifts with pricing tape....but not before he became my Hero of all time!


Oh I wish I had a picture of that package. It was not pretty. I bet it was pretty laughable as a matter of fact. But the joy of making memories as we problem-solved has never been forgotten. As a matter of fact, it is one of my all time favorite Christmas memories!

As we begin this amazing season of Christmas, may I encourage you to remember that the joy of making memories with your children and loved ones will be remembered much longer than perfection of the final product -- whether gift-wrapping, tree-decorating or craft-making!

The joy of making memories with my amazing Daddy makes me smile today. The joy of learning the lesson that "Pinterest-worthy" packages do not have to be the goal -- well, that is lesson I am embracing still.

Make memories with your children this Christmas -- that is the true blessing of this season!

1 comments:

K said...

I love this story and the moral behind it! :) Thanks for sharing!! Now I'm all excited for Christmas! ;)