There was Kindergarten and smiling faces.
And snowmen and snowforts.
There were missing teeth and frozen mitts.Christmas lights and christmas pageants.
There's my mom in her stylin coat out coming to see what the great snowman in the middle of the driveway. I wonder now if she was worried about backing her car out over him? She was probably in her 30's there.
And even farther back I was once a kid too. I had red hair and my brother grew into that head (of which he is pretty smart.) Somebody please stop that clock! Santa was what Christmas morning was all about. Telling him our hearts desires and our parents hunting for that special present to make everything come off like a fairy tale. 
There were Grandpa and Grandpa moments that can never be re-lived. We've lost a few of our family along the way. Those are the pictures that still make me sad. But alas we are not inviscible in this life. "Enjoy it while you can... we hear that all the time don't we".
There was a lot of art. On wrapping paper, homemade cards, and some pretty fantastic decoupage jars for coins and flowers I remember being brought home from school with pride.
Here are memories of my Dad, Little Nanny, Big Nanny decorating a tree, and Auntie Jean, my Nana and my Grandpa - all who are no longer here. Tyson is 21 and my neice is in Grade 8 and Mike and I are no longer together. 
Yup, times sure do change. Who would have ever known. The days that lie ahead. . 
There have been lots of packages along the way, specially wrapped for special people. Just a little gesture of good will to say "I thought of you" and I hope you feel special today.
Fast forward to a "teenage Christmas" where the boys sleep in til noon and there are no Christmas movies playing because the game systems are hooked up to the television. The days of Lego have passed and there is expensive cologne and wallets with money in them. We share Christmas between 2 homes now but the baking, and cooking must feed larger bellies. 
Funny enough, and with a little resistance - I still managed to get Parker to play a good old board game of Scrabble. Now he spelt words like sex and fart but we laughed and debated if certain words were allowed and Tyson sat on the side-line with computer access to Dictionary.com. I tried my best to throw in a little "joy" - even if it cost me some points. We made snowflake sugar cookies and yes, Parker cut **one**. And one is enough for me. I put out much fewer decorations than I ever have before. Not sure why - maybe the old girl is getting tired? Whatever the reason - there were touches here and there.
A rosemary tree and a few candles, bowls of candies and chocolates, and our new dog, "Charlie" all made it seem a little like Christmas. 
Well Charlie is exhausted from too much begging and Julie is exhausted from too much thinking. So today was boxing day and we both pulled a lazy and stayed in pajamas all day and ate leftover butter tarts for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Really.
Good bye Christmas 2010.
