Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas......

Tis the season!!

This year has been really fun celebrating Christmas with Kate! I have enjoyed so much all the little things we have done together this year! We went home to Yuba City for a few days and went to the Christmas Stroll on Plumas Street and then to the Childrens Christmas Party at Hillcrest Plaza! Kate had her picture taken with Santa and she just loved him! I actually have a cute photo and she is smiling!

We have been to church every Sunday to celebrate the season of Advent and Kate truly loves church! She actually tries to sing along to the songs! It is so cute!

Along with all the joy Kate has brought to our holiday season this year I still am very sad that my dad is not here with us! The holidays just don't seem the same without him! I miss all the things we would do together! I thought a lot about what we use to do as kids with dad around the holidays and here are a few memories I have of time with my dad at Christmas

1. Dad making the family eggnog and I loved to watch and pour all the ingredients (alcohol) into the bowl. He took such pride in making the eggnog.

2. I remember going to pick out the perfect Silver Tip Christmas Tree...I have a fond memory of going to the place in Marysville at the base of the 5th Street Bridge...the Levee House Restaurant was next door and it is that beautiful brick building next to Lucky's (at least it use to be called Luckys) Anyway...dad always had a great eye for the PERFECT Silver tip! He had to make sure there were no kinks in the trunk and that there were enough branches! It was always fun trying to get the tree home.

3. Dad never put a single thing on our Christmas tree except for this beautiful gold birdcage ornament that was his since he was a kid. He would sit there and tell my mom how to hang the lights and if she missed a branch and then he would tell us if our ornament was in the wrong place! :)

4. Even though I was asleep for this memory I still love my mom telling me the story of how dad put together our play house from the inside and could not get out. There is a photo of it and it really cracks me up! I love mom telling the story!

5. Christmas Dinner.....Mom and Dad both would make the best Christmas Dinner! We would always dress up so fancy for dinner and mom would bring out all her pretty china! I loved eating in the dining room with the Fancy Table!!!

6. I also remember our Neighborhood Christmas Parties and always had so much fun!

7. I think the thing that I remember the most about being a kid is that my dad would always take me shopping the day after Christmas to hit all the "SALES" this would be a trip that he would be so excited for and thought it was so great that we could shop and spend the day together....now you are probably wondering why I don't sound more enthusiastic about this shopping spree....well it was for HIM not me! We would go to The Men's Warehouse, Lohmans, Macys and Nordstroms and he would buy all his suits and clothes for the year and I got to tag along...now I didn't always enjoy this trip but now it is a priceless memory that I cherish so much. At the time I thought oh no another boring day in the mens department but what I wouldn't give to have one more of those days!

So since I have so many memories and I could go on forever....I thought that this year I would do something special to remember my dad and all the wonderful times we had together. So this year at the table for Christmas there will be an empty seat. That seat will be set for my dad and he will have a placecard and a special rose and candle so we can always remember him and know that he is with us this Christmas in Spirit!

Dad...I love you so much and miss you this holiday season!

XOXOXO