One great present

    
Holidays weren't much of a big 'to do' while I was growing up.  In all fairness, dad made effort to recognize them for a few years following moms passing.  Mom's sister sent us the largest shipment of presents during Christmas time.   As any typical child, my eyes would light up at the enormity of the gifts inside the packages and I'd help place them under our tree.
      I was mesmerized by the ones with my name on them, and I'd spend hours inspecting each one.    My intention was to find a loose piece of tape so I could peek inside the present.  My aunt had wrapped them all so perfectly that my original motive was unsuccessful.  My patience was about as big as the little girl I was.
     When no one was looking, I whisked up a gift and ran down to our basement as fast as my little legs could run.   Hiding in our laundry room, I tore open the present quickly and quietly.   Since this was my first time sneaking away with a present, Imagine as my fingers quietly pulled the paper off the present, only to discover a little storage box to put barrettes and stuff in.  Sure, the plastic box was cute and all, but definitely not something to hold a six year olds attention, I wanted a toy!.  Tossing the paper evidence into our laundry storage room, I rushed back up the stairs so I could repeat my successful adventure until I found a toy which would hold my attention.  The next year my curiosity would repeat itself and so on.

     Years later,  my celebration of Christmas came to a halt, along with most of their memories.
Then one day the call of my name echoed through our house. "T  R  A  C  Y!"  my dad hollered.  I slowly trudged down the stairs to see what all his fuss was about.  As I turned the corner to our laundry room, I overlooked the clutter in front of me as dad appeared to be pretty angry. With hands on his hips, a scowling look upon his face, I followed his eyes to the large pile of Christmas paper that lay crumpled on the floor.  So many years had passed since I had done this sort of sneaky stuff I had forgotten all about it.    Sure the paper was biodegradable and all, but enough dust had not collected to hide the evidence from my dad before he would uncover this incredible collection. My embarrassed laughter drown out my dads attempted scolding until he couldn't hold back and laughter over took him as well.  While cleaning up the mess this had made in our laundry room, I shared with dad the story  behind my thought process years earlier.

     My dad was a genuine softy as well as the most forgiving man I've ever known on earth. (beside my husband of course).   Presents come and presents go, but the memory of my dad's laughter and his smile is one of my favorite gifts of all.